The Press. — London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

160 of the Emperor Maximilian, the Emperor wrote : " His Imperial Majesty elect, prays the King that he will clearly and plainly notify his intentions ou this matter, without longer temporising thereon : as to do so would inflict grave injury and disgiace on the said Emperor elect, and on his daughter." Philip, however, was more reluctant than ever to consent to his son's marriage, as the long hoped for event of the pregnancy of his young Queen was on the eve of being officially announced. He, therefore, again declined in most peremptory manner to enter into positive matrimonial engagements with the Emperor, excusing himself on the extreme youth of the parties, and on the delicate condition of his son's health. We have here a significant indication of the jealous feeling with which Philip regarded his son. When Elizabeth was again dangerously Don Carlos displayed most passionate grief; he wept, fasted. and joined in all religious processions, which per ambulated the streets of the capital. The Prince, more over, prayed most earnestly to be admitted to the chamber of the dying Queen, to take a last farewell; but Philip peremptorily prohibited this interview The Abbe do Brantinne relates that on his visiting the Queen she " herself introduced " him to Don Carlos, who came one afternoon " from Alcala to sit with her Mtkjesty." When Elizabeth prepared for her journey to France to visit her mother, the deep despondency of the Prince is noted:— "The prince is sad and melancholy, and turns his mind to nothing ;" writes a correspondent. at this period, to the Cardinal Granvelle. . _ ... .. The condition of mental prostration displayed by the Prince at this season, is described to have been " pitiable." " There is nothing to be done with the Prince." says another writer. "He cares for nothing, and believes everything that is said to him; if he were told that he was dead, he would be. lieve it!" When the Queen returned to Spain it is said that her presence did more to tranquillise him than all the homilies of King Philip's Minis ters ; and w•e read : The marked deference paid by Don Carlos to the wishes of his stepmother, doubtless, greatly augmented Philip's alienation from, and dislike of the Prince. Still Philip reposed perfect confidence in the rectitude of Elizabeth's principles, and in her affection for himself; nor does be seem to have placed any restraint on the intercourse be tween the Queen and his son, which was frequent, and often confidential. The French ambassador constantly mentions, when recording his visits to the Queen, " that su Alleza was sitting with her Majesty, engaged in earnest conversation." The manner in which Elizabeth herself con• stantly speaks of the Pri-ice shows the affec tion with which she regarded him. To Four quevaulx, the French Ambassador, she said : As to what you say, concerning M. le Prince, he cannot be more obedient and well disposed than he now is. Al though it Is true that he despises, and ridicules the actions of the King his father, and finds fault with all that Madame la Princess and the little princes of Hungary can say, and do, yet he approves of all my actions : nor has any person the influence with him that I have ; and this without dissimulation or artifice on his part, for he knows not how to feign. This ambassador also notes the great desire of the Prince for some employment : It is very evident that the Prince is weary of abiding here in idleness; and that he courts some great command or post. It is remarkable that as the affection of Eliza beth for the Prince became more marked, the dislike of the King to him increased. When he had completed his twentieth year he was still subjected to the control of tutors, and refused a place at the Council Board. When the pregnancy of the Queen was announced— The Prince continued hilt amiable deportment towards the Queen, and vowed to share his future heritage with her offspring. And some pages later we are told : The deportment of Don Carlos, during this interval, seems to have been exemplary; for although he was an• inmate of El Bosque, his name is never mentioned dis paragingly in the despatches of de Fonrquevaulz, who had been sent by Catherine de Medici to Segovia, to retail to her the events and gossip of the Court. When the Queen was confined— Don Carlos showed much pleasure when he learned Elizabeth's safety, and joined tervently in the thanksgiving service : he, however, added, " that he was glad the Queen's offspring was not a son." As soon as Elizabeth was well enough to receive visitors— The Prince seemed enthusiastie in praise of his tiny sister, so rejoiced was he to behold the Queen. We may notice in passing a curious instance of Philip's amiable desire to advance his daugh ter's interests : For tho advancement and pracperity of the infants. Philip undertook some of his most famous enterprises. lie promoted the civil wart of the League in France THE PRESS. against Henri IV., chiefly with the view of placing the diadem of her mother's ancestors on the brow of Isabel ! The revolt in the Netherlands helped to widen the breach between the father and son. The views of Carlos seem to have been more sagacious as well as more humane than those of Philip. In the following passage, again, we catch glimpses of the Prince's devotion to the young Queen : Don Carlos frequently conversed with Elizabeth on Flemish affairs; and the French ambassador relates that in many subsequent conversations with her Majesty on polities, and on the alliance with Austria, the Prince formed a third party in the debate. One day, at this period, Don Carlos accompanied Elizabeth during a rural excursion for air and exercise. Remarking that the Prince sat immersed in deep thought, the Queen asked him the subject of his meditation. "Madame," replied Don Carlos, "my thoughts were roving two hundred miles far away, in avery distant country." "What country, Monseig near?" asked the Queen. " I was thinking of my cousin, madame," rejoined Don Carlos, with a sigh, and loosing fixedly at the Queen as he spoke. Elizabeth never seems to have encouraged these matrimonial designs and allu sions ; she doubtless comprehended the depth of the aversion felt by the King towards his son, whose disregard of the decencies and amenities of life disgusted and incensed a monarch so careful of appearances. The Prince, however, always retired from the Queen's presence comforted and soothed ; the tenderness of her womanly pity was grateful to him, whom all feared and betrayed. " Often the Prince was heard vehemently to declare with marks of great emotion after quitting the apartments of Queen Elizabeth his step• mother, that the King his father had done a bad and a cruel thing to have robbed him of her," writes de Thou. " He deemed her gentle, lovely, and wise," says BrantOine, and in truth she was one of the brightest and most peerless princesses in the world." The Prince had some poetic talent. A few of his verses are given here. The lines he addressed to a favourite parrot of the Queen are harshly termed " doggrel " : Si vous pnuviez 6 heureuz Perroquet Ma volonte et mon affection Bien declarer par votre bon cacquet. Si vous pouviez dire ma passion Etant au lieu de ma devotion, L'on preteroit plus volontiers I'oreille A vous disant ma douleur non pareille Que si moi-meme en disoit verite. Perroquet douc, je vous prie et conseillo , Parlez - pour moi, puisque este ecoute! The sentiment of the lines may be — loosely rendered thus :- 0 happy parrot ! Could thy prattling voice Shape sounds whereby my wind might be exprest— Could it declare my passion and MT choice, And speak the trdent love that fills my breast— Then, as thou nestlest at my heart's dear shrine, Might my affliction, great beyond compare, Find kindlier entrance to an ear divine Than should my venturous lips the truth declare. Oh parrot, then, I pray thee speak my pain, Since that thy voice is audience sure to gain. The father's hatred of his snn became at last too plain for concealment. The French Am bassador wrote to Catherine : The father hates the son, and the son returns the like, and in not less degree. In short, if God interposes not, all must one day end in great calamity. In the same measure, nevertheless, that the hate of the said son aug ments towards his father. does his affection increase for the Queen his step-mother; for in her does the prince SO his only solace. Those who surrounded the King were eager to second or even anticipate the worst sugges tions of his hatred. Don Juan of Austria was employed to gain his confidence that he might betray it. The Prince was eager to pour his wrongs into a sympathising bosom:— Know you not," passionately responded Don Carlos, " that I am the most miserable and unfortunate of princes ? lam treated like a slave, and deprived of the smallest participation in State affairs. I have no autho lity, or office confided to me, to serve for employment, or to render me hereafter capable of governing this my future realm !" 4 witty sally of the Prince precipitated his ruin : The Abbe de St. Real thus recounts an incident, for the veracity of which he has &anionic, for a voucher : " One day," says St. Real, " after many personages—who had assembled in the apartments of the Queen. and who had there discoursed upon the alleged journey of the King into Flanders—had taken leave of her Majesty, there remained behind only Don Carlos, l)on Juan of Austria, and the Princess of Eboli. After ridiculing together the folly of courtiers in giving themselves the trouble to discuss the result of events which might never take place, Don Carlos began to deride the journey itself, and the pains which the King took to counterfeit illness in order to elude it. He said his father appeared to be of opinion that the Emperor Charles Quint had taken journeys enough for himself, and for his son ; so that the King had determined to take both repose for himself, and ter the Emperor also. Tile Queen did not hear this remark, she being engaged in discoursing privately with several in. diviluals whn had sought audience. 1)ou Juan, anti the Princess of Eboli, however, conversed together in a low SATURDAY, voice. Don Carlos then began to make a little book with some sheets of paper, which he took from a else on the table, upon which he wrote in large letters on the first page, ' The Great and Admirable Journeys of the King, Don Philip ll.' Upon each of the blank pages of the book, he proceeded to enter one of the following titles: The journey from Madrid to El Escorial: the journey from El Escorial to Toledo : the journey from Toledo to Madrid: from Madrid to Aranjuez: from Aran juez t 9 El Pardo : from El Pardo to El Escorial; ' and in such fashion he filled the book with the journeys of the King to and from his palaces, and the principal towns of the realm. The Queen, when the book was shown to her by the Prince, could not help laughing at this con- ceit, dangerous as its indulgence appeared to her Ma jesty." This paper was secreted by the Princess of Eboli and taken to Philip. The King never forgave the incident, and not long after the Prince paid for his indiscretion with his life. He was not unaware of the danger which me naced him, and seriously contemplated flight to the Netherlands. In December, 1567, it is said : Often he sought refuge from the anxiety, and perhaps from the misgivings which oppressed him, in the society of the young Queen, for says de Fourquevaulx, " le Prince l'aime merveilleusement." Elizabeth mingled her tears with those of the unhappy Prince ; and exhorted him very earnestly to lay aside auy dangerous design which might then occupy his mind. On the Nth of January, 1568, the Prince was arrested as he slept : Don Carlos, after many violent struggles, succeeded in escaping from the grasp of his captor, and throwing him self at his father's feet, with sobs of anguish, he demanded in what respect he had offended his Majesty ? The King, with his " accustomed forbearance," replied, by desiring his son to be composed, and to return quietly to his bed. Kill me, Majesty, kill me, rather than make me your prisoner, which will be a notable scandal !" exclaimed the unhappy Prince. "If you will not kill me, I will take my own life !" " No," responded Philip, " you will not : that, indeed, would be the act of a madman !" "I am not mad; but your Majesty drives me to despair by your severity," replied the Prince. 4. In future, I treat you as a King your sovereign, and not as a father !" rejoined the stern monarch. The Prince then threw himself on his bed, and his words became so drowned in tears and sighs as to be no longer audible. The Queen was deeply afflicted when she learned this event, the next day : The astonishment and affliction of Elizabeth were over powering; and it is recorded that she wept almost without ceasing for two whole days, until commanded by the King to dry her tears. The French Ambassador wrote : The Queen, your daughter, madame, is deeply affected at this event ; she weeps bitterly for the love which she bears towards the father and the son. At the command of Philip, Elizabeth wrote to Charles IX., to inform him of the arrest of Carlos. The letter is brief and formal, but the Queen could not conceal her grief : As for myself, I am able to tell you nothing, except that I cannot console myself under so great a misfortune, which I esteem my own, more than that of any other person, from the friendship which I bear the Prince, and the many obligations I feel to owe him. As I may not say more, I pray it may now please you, that I kiss your hands. The Prince lived in imprisonment for just six months. We read that he was seized with sickness and vomitings in consequence of the quantity of fruit and iced-water that ho par took of; but who supplied his table ? He was placed under guard of his mortal enemy the Prince of Eboli. When Miss Freer says that the testimony of all the foreign Ministers was that Carlos died a natural death, she over looks circumstances she has herself stated, which show the worthlessness of such testi mony. Thus, the French Ambassador ex pressly states, that after the arrest of the Prince it was forbidden on peril of death to report anything concerning him. All access to him was denied. The Queen's request to seo him was sternly refused. The officers who guarded the Prince under Eboli were sworn to obedience and secrecy. From the day of his arrest to his death, it does not appear that Philip ever visited him. When dying, the Prince requested an interview with his father. It was refused ; but after his death, Philip came to look upon the corpse, and we are told, extending his arms over the clay, forgave it its trespasses. The Queen never recovered the shock of the Prince's arrest. We read that immediately afterwards she began to siekeu. The Prince died on the 24th of July, 1568; the Queen survived only till the 3rd of October following. Miss Freer is right in saying that no evi,lcnce exists to warrant the supposition that she