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des Affaires JEtrangcres 3 under the direction of M . Mignet . M . Mignet , however , was engaged in another field , so that the first use made of the inedited work was by Mr . Stirling , -who , after a pilgrimage to Yuste , and an inspection of Murray ' s Handbook of Spain , was guided to Paris , and supplied with matter for his Cloister Life of Charles V . Then came M . Amedee Pichot ' s Chronicle ^ M . Gachard ' s documentary volume , M . Mignet's pictorial panegyric , one of the most ingenious and least reliable of the series . Mr . Prescott , -taking advantage of all these contributions to a complete history of the imperial retirement , has consulted at eyery ^ step the contemporary records , so as ^ to present an original and conscientious view of the emperor ' s character , as illustrated after his abdication . He agrees more closely with Mr . Stirling than-with any other of his predecessors . Mr . Stirling could not recognize in the stingy , greedy , and superstitious recluse of Tuste the
heroic monarch of M . Mignet's narrative . That his conception is the correct one , Mr . Prescott amply proves . The parallel once drawn between Charles and Lear was complimentary to the Estramaduran devotee . Noscene in history is more striking than that of CharBfeV . celebrating bis own obsequies , except , perhaps ^ tha t of Charles IV . grovelling over the coffin of his wife in the tombs of the Escurial . Mr . Prescott does not agree to reject the account of this singular eccentricity ; but rather places it on a _ level with the other historical anecdotes of the emperor ' s retirement . During the whole of this period , indeed , the conduct of Charles was in no waythatof a man incapable of an act of madness . He continaally eat himself into a surfeit , and drank himself into insensibility . _ When , having determined to uncrown himself after the capture of Tunis in 1535 , and after the death of his wife , he set out for the Jeronymite monastery of Yuste , it was with clouded spirits and in broken health .
He selected , for his seclusion , a dim solitude , environed by oak and chesnut forests , and , though preparing for a life of humility , was never more arrogant and self-willed than wlien he laid down his imperial power . An opulent citizen of Medina del Campo , entertaining the emperor during his progress , warmed his apartment with a brazier of solid gold , fed with sticks of cinnamon . As the Emperor happened not to like cinnamon , he refused to salute his host uj > on leaving , and ordered him to be paid like a common innkeeper . But he never failed to accept the trout and eels that were caught for his table by the loyal peasantry , and though he talked , by the way , about simplicity ^ and death , he listened eagerly to flying rumours from the frontier , and invariably enjoyed his dinners . In fact , it might be believed , without a libel on the emperor ' s character , that he loved the place of his retirement because he could there sit , eatand drink in
sleep , , peace—and plenty . Neither Louis XIV . nor Frederick _ II . had a niiglitier appetite than this recluse , weary of the world . Before rising in the morning he eat potted capon , dressed with sugar , milk , and spices , after which lie dosed again . At noon , he was served with a variety of dishes , and in the evening with an abundance of anchovies and sardines , or something else " gross and savoury . " The cooks were grievously perplexed by his caprice , since he desired richer and more highly seasoned preparations every day . At last bis omntre d > hotel , in despair , vowed that "hereally knew not what to do , unless he might serve u p his Majesty a fricasee of watches . " For the emperor delighted in a watch as much as in an ancho-vy . He drank in proportion . In the morning , before leaving his bed , he often took a deep draught of iced beer , and all his life he had been fond of Rhenish wine . Koger Ascham , when in Germany , was at the festival of the Golden Fleece , and was struck with . astonishment and
veneration by the long and strong potations of the great emperor . " He drank the best that I ever saw . He had his liead in the glass five times as long as any of us , and never drank less than a good quart at once of Rhenish . " It was in vain that bis physician remonstrated , and that L 13 confessor , Cardinal Loaysa , with an independence which did him credit , admonished him to desist from the pernicious practice of eating and drinking to excess , reminding him that his Creator had not sent him into the world to indulge in sensual delights , tut by his diligent labours to save the Christian commonwealth . Cliarles gave as little heed to the warnings of the divine as to those of the doctor . Unfortunately , his position enabled him too easily to obtain a dispensation from those fasts of the Church which
might otherwise have stood him in good stead . In the end came the usual heavy reckoning for such indulgence . He was tormented , with indigestion , bile , gout , and various other maladies that flesh—especially when high-fed and over-fed—is heir to . The gout was the most formidable of his foes . Its attacks were incessant . The man who had followed the chase without fatigue among the roughest passes of the Alpujarras , who had kept the saddle day and night in his campaigns , and had been esteemed one of the best jousters in Europe , was obliged at length , -whenever he travelled , to be home in a litter , like a poor cxipple . Care and excessive toil had combined with his intemperate way of life to break down a constitution naturally robust ; and , before he had readied the ago of fifty , Charles was already an old man .
In the monastic retirement of Yuste lie clung to these gluttonous passions . Almost daily did the secretaries introduce , in their reports to Valladolid , allusions to the imperial kitchens and cellars . Political couriers were sent far out of their way to procure the particular delicacies prized at Jarandilla . The trout caught near Yuste being ' small , Charles sent to Valladolid for a larger sort . He had a tender appetite for fish , for eels , frogs , and oysters : ¦—Totted fish , especially anchovies , found great favour with him ; and ho regretted that ho h ad not brought a better supply of these from the Low Countries , On an eelpaety ho particularly doted . Good supplies of these savoury abominations were furnished , from time to time , from the capital , by his daughter , wlio thus made amends for the remissnesa which , according to Gaztclu , she had shown in supplying the emperor's table on his journey through the country . Soles , lampreys , flounders , came in
gwat quontities from Seville and Portugal . The country round Jarandilla furnished thujpitces de resistance , in the form of pork and mutton , for the emperor ' s table . Game ftlso was to bo had in abundance . He had a lively recollection , however , of eonio partridges , from a place- belonging to the Count of Ossorno , formerly sent to him in Flftndew . The major-domo ordered some to be procured from the same quarter now . But Charles remarked " they did not taste now as they had formerly tasted . " The olives <« Estramadura were too large and coarse for his liking . Repented directions were given to procure a supply from Perejon , the trader who had furnished gome of a firaaller and more delicate kind , and to obtain from him , if possible , the receipt for pickling them . One might have thought that tho land of pork , in which , as we have ee « n , Charles was living , would be that of sausages ; but ho had not forgotten those "wmch life mother , " now in glory , " was in tho habit of having made for hersolf in
Tordesillas . There the secretary of state was directed to apply for some . In case he failed in that quarter , he could easily obtain a receipt for making them from the kitchen of the Marquis of Denia . Unfortunately , as the major-domo laments , the sausages did not reach Jarandilla till Thursday night ; and , as they could not by any construction come into the category of fish , the emperor was obliged to defer his addresses to them for four-and-twenty hours , at least ; possibly much longer , as the next letter records a sharp attack of gout-The nobles and churchmen of the neighbourhood expressed their devotion by presents of game and vegetableSj sweetmeats and pastry . The Duchess of Frias sent a delicate pair of gloves , but Charles , casting a glance at his gouty fingers , said she " should have sent him hands to wear them , " for he was now the victim of gout , exasperated by over-feeding . Barley water , yolks of eggs , and senna wine , as well as the prescriptions of two physicians , were tried without success .
From Jarandilla , the sick emperor removed to his permanent retreat ; at Yuste , where he luxuriated among fish-ponds , flower-gardens , and orange and citron-trees . Narrow as he was , no less than sixteen robes of sific , lined with ermine , or eider down , or Barbary fur , were in his wardrobe ; while his chamber glowed with Turkey and Alcaraz carpets , velvet canopies , embroidered tapestries , silver-gilt , gold , and jewellery . He had caskets full of relics , amulets , and chiyalric decorations , and cabinets glittering with gems and medals . Eight Titians hung on the wall ; but Charles cared little for books , his library consisting of missals , breviaries , the Almagesta of Ptolemy , and the Consolations of Boethius , with a few classics , poems , and commentaries .
Mr . Prescott ' s account of his retirement is graphic and minute . He disproves a good naany of the traditions concerning the philosophic apothegms of the emperor , and points out that his multitude of clocks and watches , and his thirty-six pairs of spectacles , were mere evidences of a mechanical tura of mind . Charles , though he ordered no woman to approach within two bow-shots cf the convent , under pain of a whipping , amused himself by making little wooden figures of girls dancing with their tambouriaes . Then this lugubrious fanatic would sing with the chapel choir , dine alone , listen to a sermon ,, sup richly and unwholseomely , and , oa Lenten Fridays , flog himself until the scourge was stained with blood .
; It is clear , from , the evidence collected by Mr . Prescott , that Charles , in his retirement , never abandoned his interest in the affairs of the empire . He was always a politician , always a bigot , always a despot , and mortally tortured a public functionary on the rack of Sirnancas . The rehearsal of his own obsequies was one of the most dismal mockeries ever enacted ; but his death-bed was pious and resigned . ¦ Dr . Robertson s History , with Mr . Prescott ' s additions , lias been published by Messrs . Eoutlege in two convenient volumes .
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ROMANCE FOR OLD AND TOUNa . The Story of my Wardship . By Mary Catherine jaekson . 3 vols . - ~ ( Bentley , )—The Story of my Wardship begins romantically among the fogless \ V " Indian islands , and ends , more romantically- still , in the interior of a village clxurch . It is the autobiography of an heiress , tlie ward of a peer , wlio persecutes her with proposals of marriage . We will say at once that , as a tale , it is amusing , being written with vigour by a woman who has obviously seen no little of the world , and who has an aptitude for invention Subscribers to circulating libraries , interested in knowing how an opulent and lovely Isolsi , consigned to the offensive authority of a foppish middleaged Lord P'Axville , may pass through a variety of emotional storms , dangers , and deceptions , will find that Miss Jackson is master of sufficient tact to keep
the attention alive . Consequently , this novel is one to be read by uncritical persons , to whom the long evenings are dull , unless spent in the society of dark-eyed Reginalds , or golden-haired Lueies , figuring in a fictitious world . Nevertheless it has all the faults as well as some of tlie merits of a first work . Though fresh in style , and warm in feeling , it is strictly conventional in execution , the dialogue being essentially romantic , and therefore unnatural , and many of the incidents coming within the circle of blood and blue fire , which is the domain of the low-class melodrama . Miss Jackson is in want of a mystery , and resorts to the old artifice of a doubtful birth ; she desires to rid herself of her despot guardian , and uses poison as more thrilling than the Court of Chancery or ' coming of age ; she must despatch the poisoner without an Old Bailey commonplace ^ and strikes the beautiful wretch with insanity ; she searches for an ' effect' to create a lasting obligation aa the prelude of a lasting love , and throws her heroine into the -water
m order that the hero may bring her out . Then we encounter in that desperately dilapidated local habitation the ' Old Hall' of three-volume novelists , that desperately monotonous person , Charles , with the light playing in his blue eye , and the glorious sunbeams touching the rich masses of his chesnut hair till they seem of gold , " the charms of an Antinou ' s softening the rugged strength of a Hercules . " Jtfor do we miss the invariable lady of tho boudoir who reclines upon a ruby-velvet fauteuil , its rich gloss contrasting with her snow-white arms . This , by the way , is the murderess . There is a young g ^ rl with long silky ringlets of umber brown ; there is a youth whose ardent mind pants for action ; there is that particularly petrified fellow , the splendid parliamentary orator of a lady ' s novel ; and there is an ori g inal sketch of a statesman talking to a child-like beauty about divisions and coalitions . All this is very sad ; but with it there is enough of talent and originality in Miss Jackson ' s novel to fit it for the circulating libraries .
Stones by an Archceologi&t and his Friends . 2 vols . ( Bell and Daldy . )—The title-page of this book is printed in red and black , the archasologicnl romnncist being a lover of vaviegation . He lias a natural sympathy , indeed , with the mediaeval illuminators , who wrote in gold on grounds of purple , and niado pictures of all their pages . Xn a word , he is a poetical archaeologist , and believes that his science has been maligned by the ignorant world . The ignorant world 3 he complains , regard his brethren and himself as sexagenarian snappers-up of rusty trifles , old iron , crockery , tiles , bones , buttons , and leather ; whereas they are frequently young , wear faultless mustnehios , sometimes lisp , and are even romantic in their way . What
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November 29 , 1856 ] TH E LE A 1 ) E It . 1145
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 29, 1856, page 1145, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2169/page/17/
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