National Library at Madrid. It was seen there some years ago by M. Gachard, of Bruxelles.1 My friend Don Pascual

de Gayangos kindly undertook to search for it, but he was not successful in discovering the original document, or even an early copy. He found, however, a manuscript work of the seventeenth century, which professed to embody the account by Angulo. This work, entitled El perfecto Deseñgano, was written in 1638, and dedicated to the count duke of Olivares; and its author, in whose autograph it is written, was the marquess del Valparaiso, a knight of Santiago and member of the council of war. It is one of the countless treatises of that age, on the virtues of princes, of which Charles the Fifth, in Spain at least, was always held up as a model. The second part, of which a copy is now before me, is entitled, Life of the emperor in the convent of Yuste, taken from that which was written by the prior Fray Martin de Angulo, by command of the princess Doña Juana, and from other books and papers of equal quality and credit. With exception of a few sentences, and a few trifling alterations, the greater part of this narrative is word for word that of Sandoval. I likewise recognise a few excerpts from Vera. Unless, therefore, we suppose that Sandoval and Vera, anticipating the process adopted by Valparaiso, transferred the document of Angulo to their own pages, it seems very doubtful whether the marquess had more than a second-hand knowledge of the narrative of the prior.

The Jesuit Pedro Ribadeneira, in his Life of father Francisco Borja, printed in quarto, at Madrid, in 1592, gave a long and circumstantial account of the interviews which took place in Estremadura between that remarkable man and Charles the Fifth. Born in 1527, and in very early life a favourite disciple of Loyola, Ribadeneira had ample opportunities of gathering the materials of his biography from the lips of Borja himself. He is not always accurate in his dates and names of places, but I do not think that his mistakes of this kind are sufficiently important to discredit in any great degree the facts which he relates.

Bulletins de l'Academie Royale des Sciences et des Belles Lettres, tom. xii. Première Partie: 1845.

These are the principal writers who have treated of the latter days of Charles the Fifth, and who might have conversed with his contemporaries. From their works, Strada, De Thou, Leti, and later authors, writing on the same subject, have drawn their materials, which, in passing from pen to pen, have undergone considerable changes of form.

Our own Robertson has told the story of the emperor's life at Yuste with much dignity and grace, and still more inaccuracy. Citing the respectable names of Sandoval, Vera, and De Thou, he seems to have chiefly relied upon Leti, one of the most lively and least trustworthy of the historians of his time. He does not appear to have been aware of the existence of Siguença-the author, as we have seen, of the only printed account of the imperial retirement which can pretend to the authority of contemporary narrative.

A visit which I paid to Yuste in the summer of 1849, led me to look into the earliest records of the event to which the ruined convent owes its historical interest. Finding the subject but slightly noticed, yet considerably misrepresented, by English writers, I collected the results of my reading into two papers, contributed to Fraser's Magazine, in April and May, 1851.

1

An article by M. Gachard, in the Bulletins of the Royal Academy of Bruxelles, afterwards informed me that the archives of the Foreign Office of France contained a MS. account of the retirement of Charles the Fifth, illustrated with original letters, and compiled by Don Tomas Gonzalez. Of the existence of this precious document I had already been made aware by Mr. Ford's Handbook for Spain; but my inquiries after it, both in Madrid and in Paris, had proved fruitless. During the past winter I have had ample opportunities of examining it, opportunities for which I must express my gratitude to the president of France, who favoured me with the necessary order, and to lord Normanby, late British ambassador in Paris, and M. Drouyn de Lhuys, who kindly interested themselves in getting the order obeyed by the unwilling

1 Bulletins de l'Acad. Roy. des Sciences et des Belles Lettres, tom. xii. 1ère Partie, 1845.

officials of the archives. As the Gonzalez MS. has formed the groundwork of the following chapters, it may not be out of place here to give some account of that work and of its compiler.

At the restoration of Ferdinand the Seventh to the throne of Spain, the royal archives of that kingdom, preserved in the castle of Simancas, near Valladolid, were intrusted to the care of Don Tomas Gonzalez, canon of Plasencia. They were in a state of great confusion, owing to the depredations of the French invader, subsequent neglect, and the partial return of the papers which followed the peace. Gonzalez succeeded in restoring order, and he also found time to use his opportunities for the benefit of historical literature. To the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of History he contributed a long and elaborate paper on the relations between Philip the Second and our queen Elizabeth; and he had prepared this account of the retirement of Charles the Fifth, and had had it fairly copied for the press, when death brought his labours to a premature close. His books and papers fell into the hands of his brother Manuel, for whom he had obtained the reversion of his post at Simancas. At the revolution of La Granja, in 1836, Manuel being displaced and beggared, offered the memoir of Charles the Fifth to the governments of France, Russia, Belgium, and England, at the price of 10,000 francs, or about 400%., reserving the right of publishing it for his own behoof, or of 15,000 francs without such reservation. No purchaser at that price appearing, he at last disposed of it, in 1844, for the sum of 4000 francs, to the archives of the French Foreign Office, of which M. Mignet was then director. Of what possible use this curious memoir could be in the conduct of modern foreign affairs, it is difficult even to guess; but it is due to M. Mignet to say, that both during his tenure of office and since, he has taken every precaution in his power to keep his prize sacred to the mysterious purpose for which he had originally destined it.

"I am enabled to state the exact sum through the kindness of M. Van de Weyer, Belgian minister to the court of England, who obtained the information from M. Gachard.

By the terms of his bargain M. Mignet acquired both the original MS. of Gonzalez, and the fair copy enriched with notes in his own hand. The copy contains 387 folio leaves, written on both sides, the memoir filling 266 leaves, and the appendix 121. There is also a plan of the palace, and part of the monastery of Yuste.

The memoir is entitled The retirement, residence, and death of the emperor Charles the Fifth in the monastery of Yuste; a historical narrative founded on documents.1 It commences with an account of many political events previous to, and not much connected with, the emperor's retirement; such as the negotiations for the marriage of Philip the Second with the infanta Mary of Portugal, and afterwards with queen Mary of England; the regency established in Spain during his absence; the deaths of queen Juana, mother of the emperor, and of popes Julius the Third and Marcellus the Second; the truce of Vaucelles; and the diplomatic relations of pope Paul the Fourth with the courts of France and Spain. But the bulk of the memoir consists almost wholly of original letters, selected from the correspondence carried on between the courts at Valladolid and Bruxelles, and the retired emperor and his household, in the years 1556, 1557, and 1558. The principal writers are Philip the Second, the infanta Juana, princess of Brazil and regent of Spain, Juan Vazquez de Molina, secretary of state, Francisco de Eraso, secretary to the king, and Don Garcia de Toledo, tutor to Don Carlos; the emperor, Luis Quixada, chamberlain to the emperor, Martin de Gaztelu, his secretary, William Van Male, his gentleman of the chamber, and Mathys and Cornelio, his physicians. The thread of the narrative is supplied by Gonzalez, who has done his part with great judgment, permitting the story to be told as far as possible by the original actors in their own words.

The appendix is composed of the ten following documents referred to in the memoir, and of various degrees of value and interest.

1 Retiro estancia y muerte del emperador Carlos Quinto en el monasterio de Yuste; relacion historica documentada.

1 Instructions given by the emperor to his son at Augsburg, on the 9th January, 1548.

21

3 Speeches pronounced by the emperor at Bruxelles during the ceremonies of his abdication.

4

5

6 Letter from the cardinal archbishop (Siliceo) of Toledo to the princess-regent of Spain, 28th June, 1556.

7 Extract from the inventory of the furniture and jewels belonging to the emperor at his death.

8 Protest of Philip the Second against the pope, 6th May, 1557.

9 Justification of the king of Spain against the pope, the king of France, and the duke of Ferrara.

10 Will of the emperor, with its codicil.

Of these papers, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and perhaps some of the others, have already been printed: of No. 7 I have given an abstract in my appendix.

Notwithstanding the minute information which Gonzalez has brought to light respecting the daily life of the emperor at Yuste, some doubt still rests on the question whether Charles did or did not perform his own obsequies. Gonzalez treats the story as an idle tale: he laments the credulity displayed even in the sober statement of Siguença; and he pours out much patriotic scorn on the highly-wrought picture of Robertson. The opinions of the canon, on all other matters carefully weighed and considered, are well worthy of respect, and require some examination.

Of Robertson's account of the matter, it is impossible to offer any defence. Masterly as a sketch, it has unhappily been copied from the canvas of the unscrupulous Leti.1 In everything but style it is indeed very absurd. The emperor was bent,' says the historian, on performing some act of

1 Vita dell' invitissimo imp. Carlo V. da Gregorio Leti. 4 vols. 12mo. Amsterdam: 1700, iv. 370-4.