The funeral-rites ended, the emperor dined in his western alcove. He ate little, but he remained for a great part of the afternoon sitting in the open air, and basking in the sun, which, as it descended to the horizon, beat strongly upon the white walls. Feeling a violent pain in his head, he returned to his chamber and lay down. Mathys, whom he had sent in the morning to Xarandilla to attend the count of Oropesa in his illness, found him, when he returned, still suffering considerably, and attributed the pain to his having remained too long in the hot sunshine. Next morning he was somewhat better, and was able to get up and go to mass, but still felt oppressed, and complained much of thirst. He told his confessor, however, that the funeral service of the day before had done him good. The sunshine again tempted him into his open gallery. As he sat there, he sent for a portrait of the empress, and hung for some time, lost in thought, over the gentle face, which, with its blue eyes, auburn hair, and pensive beauty, somewhat resembled the noble countenance of that other Isabella, the great queen of Castille. He next called for a picture of Our Lord praying in the garden, and then for a sketch of the Last Judgment, by Titian. Having looked his last upon the image of the wife of his youth, it seemed as if he were now bidding farewell, in the contemplation of these other favourite pictures, to the noble art which he had loved with a love that cares, and years, and sickness could not quench, and that will ever be remembered with his better fame. Thus occupied, he remained so long abstracted and motionless, that Mathys, who was on the watch, thought it right to awake him from his reverie. On being spoken to, he turned round and complained that he was The doctor felt his pulse, and pronounced him in

ill.

a fever.

Again the afternoon sun was shining over the

great walnut-tree, full into the gallery. From this pleasant spot, filled with the fragrance of the garden and the murmur of the fountain, and bright with glimpses of the golden Vera, they carried him to the gloomy chamber of his sleepless nights, and laid him on the bed from which he was to rise no more.

The minute particulars of his last illness, which have been preserved by eye-witnesses, or by persons who had conversed with them, will be most conveniently grouped under the dates to which they belong. It was on the thirty-first of August that the fever declared itself, but after going to bed that evening, his thirst subsided, and he felt easier.

September the first.-No great change took place in his condition. But he was aware that the hand of death was upon him, and wishing to finish his will, he ordered that the secretary of state should be immediately applied to for a royal licence empowering Gaztelu to act on the occasion as a notary. Directions were at the same time given that couriers and horses should be kept in readiness along the road, to ensure despatch in the communications between Valladolid and Yuste.

September the second.-The emperor awoke, complaining of violent thirst, and attempted to relieve it by drinking barley-water and sugar. Quixada begged leave to send for more doctors; the patient said he did not like to have many of them about him; but he at last agreed that Cornelio might be called in, from Cigales. During the day he dozed at intervals, and towards the afternoon his mind was observed to wander; but in the evening he had rallied sufficiently to confess and receive the eucharist, after which, at half-past eight, the physician took from him nine or ten ounces of very black bad blood, which afforded considerable relief.

September the third.-He awoke refreshed, and alto

gether rather better. At eleven he took some refreshment, and drank some wine and water, and a little beer; and then he heard Gaztelu read that part of his I will which related to his household. In the afternoon he was again bled in the hand. This evening Quixada determined to pass the night in the palace, which he did not again quit while his master continued to breathe.

September the fourth. The pain had left the emperor's head, but the fever was still high. He regretted that more blood had not been taken from him, feeling too full of it—an opinion from which the doctors dissented. During the whole day he was very restless. He had stripped off the jacket, under-waistcoat, and drawers which he usually wore in bed, and lay tossing in his shirt under a single silken coverlet; and he insisted on the door and windows of his room being kept open. He complained bitterly of thirst, which the permitted syrup-vinegar and manna seemed to aggravate rather than allay; and the doctors were obliged to allow him nine ounces of his favourite beer, which he drank eagerly, with apparent relief. Vomiting and a slight perspiration followed. Quixada was looking anxiously for Dr. Cornelio, and had sent on horses to wait on the road for his litter.

September the fifth.-Dr. Mathys administered to the emperor a strong dose of rhubarb in three pills. He felt so much better that he gave orders that if the postcourier, who went out every afternoon at four, should meet Cornelio before he had accomplished half the journey, he was to tell him to go back. 'But,' said Quixada in his letter, I shall take care that he does not meet him at all, unless it be very near this place.'

September the sixth.-The patient was worse again; very feverish all day, and in the afternoon delirious; but in the evening he was easier, and again sensible.

An express arrived with a notary's licence for Gaztelu, and letters from the regent and the great officers of state full of grief for the emperor's illness. The princess was very anxious for leave to visit her father, but he would not consent to it. In the afternoon there was a storm, so violent, and accompanied with such unusual darkness, that the post could not be despatched.

September the seventh.-No change. The post sent off with a double bag.

September the eighth.-Dr. Cornelio arrived, and with him Garcilasso de la Vega. The emperor was neither better nor worse; Dr. Mathys stating the fact in a very long letter, which ended with the remark that the fever was not in itself dangerous, and might even prove beneficial, but that, the constitution of the patient considered, the result must be regarded with much doubt and apprehension. The sick man, however, was sufficiently easy and collected to receive Garcilasso, who had come laden with a heap of despatches, which were destined to remain unread; and to express the greatest satisfaction at learning that his sister, the queen of Hungary, had accepted the government of the Netherlands. Gaztelu employed the day in drawing out in due form a codicil to be added to the will. In the afternoon the wind and rain again roared round the convent, and the post was once more detained by the violence of the tempest.

September the ninth.-The emperor remained as before. A new gloom overspread the household in consequence of tidings from Africa, that Don Martin de Cordova, count of Alcaudete, and the army of Oran, had been cut to pieces by the infidels. For many years

viceroy of the Spanish dominions in Africa, and well skilled in the ways of the Moors both in policy and war, the ill-fated veteran was one of the most trusted coun

sellors of the crown. During the spring and summer, the fortunes of a war between Hassan, pacha of Algiers, son and heir of Barbarossa, and Halif, the new king of Fez, gave him hopes of turning Moslem quarrels to Christian advantage. Mostagan, a fortified town about twelve leagues to the east of Oran, was a prize upon which his hopes had been long fixed. About the middle of August, therefore, at the head of six thousand four hundred men, and a considerable train of artillery, he marched thither, sending along the coast nine brigantines laden with munitions, and relying on promises of further aid from the king of Fez. But the expedition, which ought to have been a surprize, was ruined by the undue caution of its movements. The convoy was captured by an Algerine fleet; the Moorish ally proved faithless; the attack on Mostagan failed; and in their hasty retreat the weary, thirsty, and famished Christians were overtaken by the army of Hassan. At Mazagran the old count, who had completely lost his head, was trampled to death in the gateway by his own terrified troops, and the greater part of his army fell beneath the Turkish scimitar and the Arab spear, or was sent to row in the galleys of Algiers. His son, Don Martin de Cordova, was taken prisoner, and only a handful of fugitives escaped to tell their tale of disaster at Oran. With Alcaudete, who had been looked upon as a leader no less prudent than brave, fell many knights and nobles of Andalusia; and the fate of his expedition caused such mourning as had been unknown in Spain since the fatal day when that other Cordova, the good knight of Aguilar, fell with his gallant band in the pass of the Red Sierra. Quixada and Garcilasso, friends of many

1 L. de Marmol Carvajal: Descripcion de Africa, 3 tom. fol. Granada: 1573-99, ii. p. 197-9. Fr. Diego de Haedo: Historia de Argel, fol. Valladolid: 1612, p. 174. Don Martin de Cordova was ransomed, and lived to be governor of Oran, and to revenge his father's death. A. Lopez de Haro: Nobilario de España, 2 tom. fol. Madrid: 1622, ii. 153.