Philip I, king of France, succeeded his father Henry I. in 1060, when but eight years of age, under the regency and guardianship of Baudouin V. count of Flanders, who discharged his trust with zeal and fidelity. He defeated the Gascons who were inclined to revolt, and died, leaving his pupil 15 years of age. This young prince made war in Flanders against Robert, Baudouin's younger son, who had invaded Flanders, which belonged to the children of his elder brother. Philip marched against him with a numerous army, which was cut to pieces near Mount Cassel. Peace was the consequence of the victory, and the conqueror quietly enjoyed his usurpation. Philip, after the fatigues of the war, by way of relaxation gave himself up entirely to pleasure and dissipation. Tired of his wife Bertha, and fond of Bertrade, spouse of Foulques count of Anjou, he carried her off from her husband. Having, in 1093, legally annulled his own marriage under the pretext of barrenness, and Bertrade's marriage with the count of Anjou having been set aside under the same pretext, Philip and she were afterwards solemnly married by the bishop of Beauvais. This union was declared void by Pope Urban II., a Frenchman by birth, who pronounced the sentence in the king's own dominions, to which he had come for asylum. Philip, fearing that the anathemas of the Roman pontiff might be the means of exciting his subjects to rebellion, sent deputies to the pope, who obtained a delay, during which time he was permitted to use the crown. To know what is meant by this permission, it is necessary to recollect, that at that period kings appeared on public solemnities in royal habit, with the crown on their heads, which they received from the hand of a bishop. This delay was not of long duration. Philip was excommunicated anew in a council held at Poitiers in 1100; but in the year 1104, Lambert bishop of Arras, legate of Pope Pascal II., at last brought him his absolution to Paris, after having made him promise never to see Bertrade more; a promise which he did not keep. It would appear that the pope afterwards approved their marriage; for Suger informs us, that their sons were declared capable of succeeding to the crown. Philip died at Melun the 29th of July 1108, aged 57 years, after having witnessed the first crusade, in which he declined taking any part. His reign, which comprehends a period of 48 years, was the longest of any of his predecessors, excepting that of Clovis, and of all who came after him, except those of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. It was distinguished by several great events; but Philip, though brave in battle, and wise in councils, was no very excellent character. He appeared so much the more contemptible to his subjects, as that age abounded with heroes. Philip is not the first of the French monarchs (as is commonly reported), who, in order to give the greater authority to his charters, caused them to be subscribed by the officers of the crown; for Henry I. had sometimes done the same before him.

Philip II., surnamed Augustus, the conqueror and given of God, son of Louis VII. (called the younger), king of France, and of Alix, his third wife, daughter of Thibault, count of Champagne, was born the 22d of August 1165. He came to the crown, after his father's death in 1180, at the age of 15 years. His youth was not spent like that of the generality of other princes; for, by avoiding the rock of pleasure on which so many are apt to split, his courage thereby became the more lively and intrepid. The king of England seemed willing to take advantage of his minority, and to seize upon a part of his dominions. But Philip marched against him, and compelled him, sword in hand, to confirm the ancient treaties between the two kingdoms. As soon as the war was ended, he made his people enjoy the blessings of peace. He gave a check to the oppressions of the great lords, banished the comedians, punished blasphemies, caused the streets and public places of Paris to be paved, and annexed to that capital a part of the adjacent villages. It was enclosed by walls with towers; and the inhabitants of other cities were equally proud to fortify and embellish theirs. The Jews having for a long time practised the most shameful frauds in France, Philip expelled them from his kingdom, and declared his subjects quit with them; an action unjust, contrary to the laws of nature, and consequently to religion. The tranquillity of France was somewhat disturbed by a difference with the count of Flanders, which was however happily terminated in 1184. Some time after he declared war against Henry II. king of England, and took from him the towns of Illoudun, Tours, Mans and other places. The epidemical madness of the crusades then agitated all Europe; and Philip, as well as other princes, caught the infection. He embarked in the year 1190, with Richard I. king of England, for the relief of the Christians in Palestine, who were oppressed by Saladin. These two monarchs sat down before Acre, which is the ancient Ptolemais; as did almost all the Christians of the east, while Saladin was engaged in a civil war on the banks of the Euphrates. When the two European monarchs had joined their forces to those of the Asiatic Christians, they counted above 300,000 fighting men. Acre surrendered the 13th of July 1191; but the unhappy disagreement which took place between Philip and Richard, rivals of glory and of interest, did more mischief than could be compensated by the successful exertions of those 300,000 men. Philip, tired of these divisions, and displeased with the behaviour of Richard his vassal, returned to his own country, which, perhaps, he should never have left, or at least have seen again with more glory. Besides, he was attacked (say historians) with a languishing disorder, the effects of which were attributed to poison; but which might have been occasioned merely by the scorching heat of a climate so different from that of France. He lost his hair, his beard, and his nails; nay, his very flesh came off. The physicians urged him to return home; and he soon determined to follow their advice. The year after, he obliged Baudouin VIII. count of Flanders to leave him the county of Artois. He next turned his arms against Richard king of England, from whom he took Evreux and Vexin; though he had promised upon the holy gospels never to take any advantage of his rival during his absence; so that the consequences of this war were very unfortunate. The French monarch, repulsed from Rouen with loss, made a truce for six months; during which time he married Ingelburge, princess of Denmark, whose beauty could only be equalled by her virtue. The divorcing of this lady, whom he quitted in order to marry Agnes daughter of the duke of Merania, embroiled him with the court of Rome. The pope issued a sentence of excommunication against him; but it was taken off upon his promising to take back his former wife. John Sans-terre succeeded to the crown of England in 1199, to the prejudice of his nephew Arthur, to whom of right it belonged. The nephew, supported by Philip, took up arms against the uncle, but was defeated in Poictou, where he was taken prisoner, and afterwards murdered. The murderer, being summoned before the court of the peers of France, not having appeared, was declared guilty of his nephew's death, and condemned to lose his life in 1203. His lands, situated in France, were forfeited to the crown. Philip soon set about gathering the fruit of his vassal's crime. He seized upon Normandy, then carried his victorious arms into Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Poictou, and brought those provinces, as they anciently were, under the immediate authority of his crown. The English had no other part left them in France, but the province of Guienne. To crown his good fortune, John his enemy was embroiled with the court of Rome, which had lately excommunicated him. The ecclesiastical thunder was very favourable for Philip. Innocent II. put into his hands, and transferred to him, a perpetual right to the kingdom of England. This king of France, when formerly excommunicated by the pope, had declared his censures void and abusive; he thought very differently, however, when he found himself the executor of a bull investing him with the English crown. To give the greater force to the sentence pronounced by his holiness, he employed a whole year in building 1700 ships, and in preparing the finest army that was ever seen in France. Europe was in expectation of a decisive battle between the two kings, when the pope laughed at both, and artfully took to himself what he had bestowed upon Philip. A legate of the holy see persuaded John Sans-terre to give his crown to the court of Rome, which received it with enthusiasm. Then Philip was expressly forbid by the pope to make any attempt upon England, now become a fief of the Roman church, or against John who was under her protection. Meanwhile, the great preparations which Philip had made, alarmed all Europe; Germany, England, and the Low Countries, were united against him in the same manner as we have seen them united against Louis XIV. Ferrand, count of Flanders, joined the emperor Otho IV. He was Philip's vassal; which was the strongest reason for declaring against him. The French king was now wise disconcerted; his fortune and his courage dissipated all his enemies. His valour was particularly conspicuous at the battle of Bouvines, which was fought on the 27th of July 1214, and lasted from noon till night. Before the engagement, he knew well that some of his nobles followed him with reluctance. He assembled them together; and placing himself in the midst of them, he took a large golden cup, which he filled with wine, and into which he put several slices of bread. He ate one of them himself, and offering the cup to the rest, he said, "My companions, let those who would live and die with me follow my example." The cup was emptied in a moment, and those who were the least attached to him fought with all the bravery that could be expected from his warmest friends. It is also reported, that after showing the army the crown that was worn by sovereigns upon these occasions, he said, "If anyone thought himself more worthy than he was to wear it, he had only to explain himself; that he should be content it were the prize of that man who should display the greatest valour in battle." The enemy had an army of 150,000 fighting men; that of Philip was not half so numerous; but it was composed of the flower of his nobility. The king ran great hazard of his life; for he was thrown down under the horses feet, and wounded in the neck. It is said 30,000 Germans were killed; but the number is probably much exaggerated. The counts of Flanders and Boulogne were led to Paris with irons upon their feet and hands; a barbarous custom which prevailed at that time. The French king made no conquest on the side of Germany after after this ever memorable action; but it gained him an additional power over his vassals. Philip, conqueror of Germany, and possessor of almost all the English dominions in France, was invited to the crown of England by the subjects of King John, who were grown weary of his tyranny. The king of France, upon this occasion, conducted himself like an able politician. He persuaded the English to ask his son Louis for their king; but as he wished at the same time to manage the pope, and not lose the crown of England, he chose to assist the prince his son, without appearing to act himself. Louis made a descent upon England, was crowned at London, and excommunicated at Rome in 1216; but that excommunication made no change upon John's situation, who died of grief. His death extinguished the resentment of the English, who having declared themselves for his son Henry III., forced Louis to leave England. Philip-Augustus died a little time after, at Mantes, the 14th of July 1223, aged 59, after a reign of 43 years. Of all the kings of the 3d race, he made the greatest accession to the crown-lands, and transmitted the greatest power to his successors. He reunited to his dominions Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Poitou, &c. After having subdued John Sanserre, he humbled the great lords, and by the overthrow of foreign and domestic enemies, took away the counterpoise which balanced his authority in the kingdom. He was more than a conqueror; he was a great king and an excellent politician; fond of splendour on public occasions, but frugal in private life; exact in the administration of justice; skilful in employing alternately flattery and threatenings, rewards and punishments; he was zealous in the defence of religion, and always disposed to defend the church; but he knew well how to procure from her succours for supplying the exigencies of the state. The lords of Coucy, Rhetel, Roye, and several others, seized upon the property of the clergy. A great many of the prelates applied for protection to the king, who promised them his good offices with the preceptors. But, notwithstanding his recommendations, the pillages continued. The bishops redoubled their complaints, and intreated Philip to march against their enemies. "With all my heart (said he); but in order to fight them, it is necessary to have troops, and troops cannot be raised without money." The clergy understood his meaning; they furnished subsidies, and the pillages ceased. The enterprises of Philip-Augustus were almost always successful; because he formed his projects with deliberation, and executed them without delay. He began by rendering the French happy, and in the end rendered them formidable; though he was more inclined to anger than to gentleness, to punish than to pardon, he was regretted by his subjects as a powerful genius and as the father of his country. It was in his reign that the marshal of France was seen, for the first time, at the head of the army. It was then, also, that families began to have fixed and hereditary surnames: the lords took them from the lands which they possessed; men of letters from the place of their birth; the converted Jews and rich merchants from that of their residence. Two very cruel evils, viz. leprosy and usury, were prevalent at that time; the one infected the body, the other proved the ruin of the fortunes of families. The number of lepers was so great, that the smallest villages were obliged to have an hospital for the cure of that distemper. It is remarkable, that when Philip was on the point of engaging Richard, the English, who were lying in ambush near the Loire, run away with his equipage, in which he caused to be carried all the deeds or writings respecting the rights of the crown; a custom which is used at this day by the grand seignior. Philip caused copies of his charters to be collected wherever they could be found; but after all his endeavours, some of them were never recovered. The surname of Augustus was given to Philip by his contemporaries. Mezerai is mistaken, when he affirms that Paulus Emilius was the first who rendered the name of conqueror by that of Augustus; a learned critic has proved the contrary by undoubted authorities.

Philip of Valois, first king of France of the collateral branch of the Valois, was son to Charles count of Valois, brother of Philip the Fair. He mounted the throne in 1328, on the death of his cousin Charles the Fair, after having held for some time the regency of the kingdom. France was much divided in the beginning of his reign, by disputes about the succession to the crown. Edward III., king of England laid claim to it as grandson of Philip the Fair, by his mother; but Philip of Valois took possession of it as first prince of the blood. The people gave him, upon his accession to the throne, the title of fortunate; to which might have been added, for some time, those of victorious and just. He marched to the relief of his vassal the count of Flanders, whose subjects, on account of bad usage, had taken up arms against him. He engaged the rebels at Cassel, performed prodigies of valour, and gained a signal victory, the 24th of August 1328. Having made all quiet, he went home, after saying to the count of Flanders, "Be more prudent and more humane, and you will have fewer disloyal subjects." The victorious Philip devoted the time of peace to the internal regulations of his kingdom. The financiers were called to an account, and some of them condemned to death; among others Peter Remi, general of the finances, who left behind him near 20 millions. He afterwards enacted the law respecting freeholds, imposing a tax upon churches, and commoners who had acquired the lands of the nobility. Then, also, began to be introduced the form of appel comme d'abas, the principles of which are more ancient than the name. The year 1329 was distinguished by a solemn homage paid to Philip, by Edward king of England, for the duchy of Guienne, upon his knees, and with his head uncovered. The interior peace of the kingdom was disturbed by disputes about the dislocation of the church and state. An assembly was summoned for hearing the two parties, in the presence of the king: and in this assembly Peter de Cugnieres, his majesty's advocate, defended the secular jurisdiction with great ability, as a man well-informed, and an enlightened philosopher. Bertrand bishop of Autun, and Roger archbishop of Sens, pled the cause of the clergy with less ingenuity and judgment. This did not, however, prevent the king from showing them favours, though the controversy itself laid the foundation of all the disputes which were afterwards agitated about the authority of the two powers; disputes which contributed not a little to confine the ecclesiastical jurisdiction within narrower limits. While Philip was employing himself in some useful regulations, he was unhappily interrupted by Edward III. declaring war against France. This prince immediately recovered those parts of Guienne of which Philip was in possession. The Flemish having again revolted from France in spite of oaths and treaties, joined the standard of Edward; and required that he would assume the title of king of France, in consequence of his pretensions to the crown; because then, agreeably to the letter of their treaty, they only followed the king of France. From this period is dated the union of the flower-de-luce and leopards in the arms of England. Edward, in order to justify the change of his arms, caused the following manifesto to be published in the verse of the times.

Rex sum regnorum, bina ratione, duorum: Anglorum in regno sum rex ego jure paterno; Matris jure guidem Francorum nuncupor idem: Hinc est armorum variatio facta meorum.

In the way of a parody to these lines, Philip made the following reply:

Prædo regnorum qui diceris esse duorum, Francorum regno privaberis, atque paterno, Succedunt mares huic regno, non mulieres: Hinc est armorum variatio fluita tuorum.

In the meantime Philip put himself in a posture of defense. His arms were at first attended with some success; but those advantages were far from compensating the loss of the battle of Ecluse, in which the French fleet, consisting of 120 large ships, and manned by 40,000 seamen, was beat by that of England in the year 1340. This defeat is to be attributed, in part, to the little attention which had been paid to the navy of France, notwithstanding her favourable situation, by being watched by two seas. She was obliged to make use of foreign ships, which obeyed but slowly, and even with some reluctance. This war, which had been alternately discontinued and renewed, began again with more heat than ever in 1345. The two armies having come to an engagement the 26th of August 1346, near Creully, a village in the county of Pontheu, the English there gained a signal victory. Edward had only 40,000 men, while Philip had nearly twice that number; but the army of the former was inured to war, and that of the latter was ill-disciplined and overcome with fatiguing marches. France lost from 25,000 to 30,000 men; of which numbers were John king of Bohemia (who, though blind, fought gallantly), and about 1,500 gentlemen, the flower of the French nobility. The loss of Calais, and several other places, was the sad fruit of this defeat. Some time before Edward had challenged Philip of Valois to a single combat; which he refused, not on the score of cowardice, but from the idea that it was improper for a sovereign prince to accept a challenge from a king who was his vassal. At length, in 1347, a truce for six months was concluded between France and England, and afterwards prolonged at different times. Philip died a short time after, the 23d of August 1350, aged 57 years, and far from bearing on his monument the title of Fortunate. He had, however, reunited Dauphiny to France. Humbert, the last prince of that country, having lost all his children, and wearied with the wars which he had held out against Savoy, turned a Dominican, and gave his province to Philip, in 1349, on condition that the eldest son of the kings of France should bear the title of Dauphin. Philip likewise added to his domain Rouillon and a part of Cerdague, by lending some money to the king of Majorca, who gave him those provinces as a security; provinces which Charles VIII. afterwards restored without any reimbursement. It is surprising that in so unfortunate a reign he should have been able to purchase those provinces after having paid a great deal for Dauphiny; but the duty on salt, the rise on the other taxes, and especially the frauds committed in the coinage of money, are supposed to have enabled him to make those acquisitions. The fictitious and ideal value of the coin was not only raised, but a great deal of bad money was issued from the mint. The officers of the mint were sworn upon the gospels to keep the secret; but how could Philip flatter himself that so gross a fraud would not be discovered?

Philip II., son of Charles V. and of Isabella of Portugal, who was born at Valladolid on the 21st of May 1527, became king of Naples and Sicily by his father's abdication in 1554. He ascended the throne of Spain on the 17th of January 1556 by the same means. Charles had made a truce with the French, but his son broke it; and having formed an alliance with England, poured into Picardy an army of 40,000 men. The French were cut to pieces at the battle of St Quintin, which was fought on the 20th of August 1557. That town was taken by assault, and the day on which the breach was mounted Philip appeared armed cap-a-pie, in order to animate the soldiers. It was the first and last time that he was observed to wear this military dress. It is well known, indeed, that his terror was so great during the action that he made two vows; one, that he should never again be present in a battle; and the other, to build a magnificent monastery dedicated to St Lawrence, to whom he attributed the success of his arms, which he executed at Escorial, a village about seven leagues from Madrid. After the engagement, his general, the duke of Savoy, wanted to kiss his hand; but Philip prevented him, saying, "It is rather my duty to kiss yours, who have the merit of so glorious a victory;" and immediately presented him with the colours taken during the action. The taking of Catelet, Ham, and Noyon, were the only advantages which were derived from a battle which might have proved the ruin of France. When Charles V. was informed of this victory, it is said he asked the person who brought him the intelligence, "if his son was at Paris?" and being answered in the negative, he went away without uttering a single word. The duke of Guise having had time to assemble an army, repaired the disgrace of his country by the taking of Calais and Thionville. While he was animating the French, Philip gained a pretty considerable battle against Marshal de Thermes near Gravelines. His army was, on this occasion, commanded by Count Egmont, whom he afterwards caused to be beheaded. The conqueror made no better use of the victory of Gravelines than he had done of that of St Quintin; but he reaped considerable advantage from the glorious peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, the masterpiece of his politics. By that treaty, concluded the 13th of April 1559, he gained possession of the strong places of Thionville, Mainzbourg, Montmedy, Hefdin, and the county of Charolais. This war, so terrible, and attended with so much cruelty, was terminated, like many others, by a marriage. Philip took for his third wife Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II. who had been promised to Don Carlos.

After these glorious achievements, Philip returned in triumph to Spain, without having drawn a sword. His first care, upon his arrival at Valladolid, was to demand of the grand inquisitor the spectacle of an auto-da-fé. This was immediately granted him; 40 wretches, some of whom were priests or monks, were strangled and burnt, and one of them was burnt alive. Don Carlos de Seza, one of those unfortunate victims, ventured to draw near to the king, and said to him, "How, Sir, can you suffer so many wretches to be committed to the flames? Can you be witness of such barbarity without weeping?" To this Philip coolly replied, "If my own son were suspected of hereby, I would myself give him up to the severity of the inquisition. Such is the horror which I feel when I think of you and your companions, that if an executioner were wanting, I would supply his place myself." On other occasions he conducted himself agreeably to the spirit which had dictated this answer.

In a valley of Piedmont, bordering on the country of the Milanese, there were some heretics; and the governor of Milan had orders to put them all to death by the gibbet. The new opinions having found their way into some of the districts of Calabria, he gave orders that the innovators should be put to the sword, with the reservation of 60 of them, of whom 30 were afterwards strangled, and the rest committed to the flames.

This spirit of cruelty, and shameful abuse of his power, had the effect to weaken that power itself. The Flemish, no longer able to bear so hard a yoke, revolted. The revolution began with the fine and large provinces of the continent; but the maritime provinces only obtained their liberty. In 1579 they formed themselves into a republic, under the title of the United Provinces. Philip sent the duke of Alva to reduce them; but the cruelty of that general only served to exasperate the spirit of the rebels. Never did either party fight with more courage, or with more fury. The Spaniards, at the siege of Haarlem, having thrown into the town the head of a Dutch officer who had been killed in a skirmish, the inhabitants threw to them the heads of eleven Spaniards, with this inscription: "Ten heads for the payment of the tenth penny, and the eleventh for interest." Haarlem having surrendered at discretion, the conquerors caused all the magistrates, all the pastors, and above 1500 citizens, to be hanged.

The duke of Alva being at length recalled, the grand commander of the Requesnes was sent in his place, and after his death Don John of Austria; but neither of those generals could restore tranquillity in the Low Countries. To this son of Charles V. succeeded a grandson no less illustrious, namely, Alexander Farnese duke of Parma, the greatest man of his time; but he could neither prevent the independence of the United Provinces, nor the progress of that republic which arose under his own eye. It was then that Philip, always at his ease in Spain, instead of coming to reduce the rebels in Flanders, proscribed the prince of Orange, and set 25,000 crowns upon his head. William, superior to Philip, disdained to make use of that kind of vengeance, and trusted to his sword for his preservation.

In the mean time the king of Spain succeeded to the crown of Portugal, to which he had a right by his mother Isabella. This kingdom was subjected to him by the duke of Alva, in the space of three weeks, in the year 1580. Antony, prior of Crato, being proclaimed king by the populace of Lisbon, had the resolution to come to an engagement; but he was vanquished, pursued, and obliged to fly for his life.

A cowardly assassin, Balthazar Gerard, by a pistol-shot killed the prince of Orange, and thereby delivered Philip from his most implacable enemy. Philip was charged with this crime, it is believed without reason; though, when the news was communicated to him, he was imprudent enough to exclaim, "If this blow had been given two years ago, the Catholic religion and I would have gained a great deal by it."

This murder had not the effect to restore to Philip the Seven United Provinces. That republic, already powerful by sea, assailed England against him. Philip having resolved to distress Elizabeth, fitted out, in 1588, a fleet called the Invincible. It consisted of 150 large ships, on which were mounted 2650 pieces of cannon, 8000 seamen, 20,000 soldiers, and all the flower of the Spanish nobility. This fleet, commanded by the duke of Medina Sidonia, sailed from Lisbon when the season was too far advanced; and, being overtaken by a violent storm, a great part of it was dispersed. Twelve ships, driven upon the coast of England, were captured by the English fleet, which consisted of 100 ships; 50 were wrecked on the coasts of France, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, and Denmark. Such was the success of the Invincible. See Armada.

This enterprise, which cost Spain 40 millions of ducats, 20,000 men, and 100 ships, was productive only of disgrace. Philip supported this misfortune with a heroic resolution. When one of his courtiers told him, with an air of confirmation, what had happened, he coolly replied, "I sent to fight the English, and not the winds. God's will be done." The day after Philip ordered the bishops to return thanks to God for having preserved some remains of his fleet; and he wrote thus to the pope: "Holy father, as long as I remain master of the fountain head, I shall not much regard the loss of a rivulet. I will thank the Supreme Disposer of empires, who has given me the power of easily repairing a disaster which my enemies must attribute solely to the elements which have fought for them."

At the same time that Philip attacked England, he was encouraging in France the Holy League; the object of which was to overturn the throne and divide the state. The leagues conferred upon him the title of Protector of their association; which he eagerly accepted, from a persuasion that their exertions would soon conduct him, or one of his family, to the throne of France. He thought himself so sure of his prey, that when speaking of the principal cities in France, he used to say, "My fine city of Paris, my fine city of Orleans," in the same manner as he would have spoken of Madrid and Seville. What was the result of all those intrigues? Henry IV. embraced the Catholic religion, and by his abjuration of Protestantism made his rival lose France in a quarter of an hour.

Philip, at length, worn out by the debaucheries of his youth, and by the toils of government, drew near his last hour. A slow fever, the most painful gout, and a complication of other disorders, could not disengage him from business, or draw from him the least complaint. plaint. "What!" said he to the physicians who hesitated about letting blood of him; "What! are you afraid of drawing a few drops of blood from the veins of a king who has made whole rivers of it flow from heretics?" At last, exhausted by a complication of distempers, which he bore with a heroic patience, and being eaten up of lice, he expired the 13th of September 1598, aged 72 years, after a reign of 43 years and eight months. During the last 50 days of his illness he showed a great sense of religion, and had his eyes almost always fixed towards heaven.

No character was ever drawn by different historians in more opposite colours than that of Philip; and yet, considering the length and activity of his reign, there is none which it should seem would be more easy to ascertain. From the facts recorded in history, we cannot doubt that he possessed, in an eminent degree, penetration, vigilance, and a capacity for government. His eyes were continually open upon every part of his extensive dominions. He entered into every branch of administration; watched over the conduct of his ministers with unrestrained attention; and in his choice both of them and of his generals, discovered a considerable share of sagacity. He had at all times a composed and settled countenance, and never appeared to be either elated or depressed. His temper was the most imperious, and his looks and demeanor were haughty and severe; yet among his Spanish subjects he was of easy access; listened patiently to their representations and complaints; and where his ambition and bigotry did not interfere, was generally willing to redress their grievances. When we have said thus much in his praise, we have said all that truth requires or truth permits. It is indeed impossible to suppose that he was insincere in his zeal for religion. But as his religion was of the most corrupt kind, it served to increase the natural depravity of his disposition; and not only allowed, but even prompted, him to commit the most odious and shocking crimes. Although a prince in the bigotted age of Philip might be persuaded that the interest of religion would be advanced by falsehood and persecution; yet it might be expected, that, in a virtuous prince, the sentiments of honour and humanity would on some occasions triumph over the dictates of superstition: but of this triumph there occurs not a single instance in the reign of Philip; who without hesitation violated his most sacred obligations as often as religion afforded him a pretence, and under that pretence exercised for many years the most unrelenting cruelty without reluctance or remorse. His ambition, which was exorbitant; his resentment, which was implacable; his arbitrary temper, which would submit to no control—concurred with his bigotted zeal for the Catholic religion, and carried the sanguinary spirit, which that religion was calculated to inspire, to a greater height in Philip than it ever attained in any other prince of that or of any former or succeeding age.

Though of a small size, he had an agreeable person. His countenance was grave, his air tranquil, and one could not discover from his looks either joy in prosperity or chagrin in adversity. The wars against Holland, France, and England, cost Philip 564 millions of ducats; but America furnished him with more than the half of that sum. His revenues, after the junction of Portugal, are said to have amounted to 25 millions of ducats, of which he only laid out 100,000 for the support of his own household. Philip was very jealous of outward respect; he was unwilling that any should speak to him but upon their knees. The duke of Alva having one day entered this prince's cabinet without being introduced, he received the following harsh salutation, accompanied with a stormy countenance: "An impudence like this of yours would deserve the hatchet." If he thought only how to make himself be feared, he succeeded in doing so; for few princes have been more dreaded, more abhorred, or have caused more blood to flow, than Philip II. of Spain. He had successively, if not all at once, war to maintain against Turkey, France, England, Holland, and almost all the Protestants of the empire, without having a single ally, not even the branch of his own house in Germany. Notwithstanding so many millions employed against the enemies of Spain, Philip found in his economy and his resources wherewith to build 30 citadels, 64 fortified places, 9 sea ports, 25 arsenals, and as many palaces, without including the Escorial. His debts amounted to 140 millions of ducats, of which after having paid seven millions of interest, the greatest part was due to the Genoese. Moreover, he had sold or alienated a capital stock of 100 millions of ducats in Italy. He made a law, fixing the majority of the kings of Spain at 14 years of age. He affected to be more than commonly devout; he ate often at the refectory with the monks; he never entered their churches without kissing all the relics; he caused knead his bread with the water of a fountain which was thought to possess a miraculous virtue; he boasted of never having danced, and of never wearing breeches after the Grecian fashion. Grave and solemn in all his actions, he drove from his presence a woman who had smiled while he was blowing his nose. One great event of his domestic life is the death of his son Don Carlos. The manner of this prince's death is not certainly known. His body, which lies in the monument of the Escorial, is there separated from his head; but it is pretended that the head is separated only because the leaden coffin which contains the body is too small. The particulars of his crime are as little known as the manner in which it was committed. There is no evidence, nor is there any probability, that Philip would have caused him to be condemned by the inquisition. All that we know of the matter is, that in 1568 his father, having discovered that he had some correspondence with the Hollanders his enemies, arrested him himself in his own room. He wrote at the same time to Pope Pius V. in order to give him an account of his son's imprisonment; and in his letter to this pontiff, the 20th of January 1568, he says, "that from his earliest years the strength of a wicked nature has stifled in Don Carlos every paternal instruction." It was Philip II. who caused to be printed at Antwerp, between 1569 and 1572, in 8 vols folio, the fine Polyglot Bible, which bears his name; and it was he who subjected the islands afterwards called the Philippines. He married successively, 1st, Mary daughter of John III. king of Portugal; 2dly, Mary daughter of Henry VIII. and queen of England; 3dly, Elizabeth of France, daughter of Henry II.; 4thly, Anne daughter of the emperor Maximilian II. Don Carlos was the son of his first wife, and Philip III. of the last.