The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-26 00:00:00

f it t r at ur t.

Charles-Quint son abdieatton son sijour et sa
snort au monastire de Yuste. Par M. Mignet.

Paris: 1854.
Ts* present European war has naturally
tended to check literary enterprise in France
as well as in England; yet, in spite of tempo
nary discouragements, there are, if we mistake
not, signs of renewed activity among the
literary chiefs of the neighbouring empire.
Energies which some few years back were die
tracted by party conflicts or revolutionary
passions are recovering their healthy action
under a more settled order of things, and we
may look for another issue of works of durable
value as soon as peace shall permit us to reap
the promised harvest. Of greater works, such
as M. Villemain's "Gregory V 11.," and others
said to be in preparation, we have a foretaste
in this volume of M. Mignet on the abdication
of Charles V. The revolutionary fever is sub-
siding, and a normal regime is confirmed
when men recur with grave ardour to subjects
of such breadth and scope as these enduring
examples and memorable events of history.
Valuable as the book before us unquestion-
ably is, it may not be thought desirable to
translate it into our own language, as it has
been in a measure anticipated by the charming
little volume, " The Cloister Life of Charles
the Fifth," by Mr. Stirling, which English
readers of history have so recently welcomed.
At the same time, the one is by no means a
substitute for the other, as they are not only
conceived in a different spirit and differently
treated, but further materials have been acces-
sible to M. Mignet of which Mr. Stirling, at
the time he wrote, had not the advantage.
Even iu the use of the manuscript of Gonzalez
Mr. Stirling implies that he was obstructed
by the too jealous care of a treasure which M.
Mignet was disposed to keep for his own pur-
poses. Mr. Stirling had advantages of his
own, in his acquaintance with the neighbour
hood of Yuste, and that enthusiasm for Spa-
nish antiquities which enables him to invest
them with such picturesque attractiveness.
But M. Mignet has had the use, in addition to
the manuscript of Gonzalez, of a " Life of
Charles the Fifth atYuste." written by a monk
of the convent, who was resident there through-
out the whole of the Emperor's retreat, and
who followed his remains when they were
translated to the Escurial. This narrative,
which is stated to be most circumstantial, was
only discovered within these four years in the
archives of the Feudal Court of Brabant, and
is now about to be published in the second
volume of a work by M. Gachard, superinten-
dent of the archives of Belgium. By means
of this and collateral assistance from dif-
ferent parts of Europe, M. Mignet has been
enabled to render his own work more com-
plete, though scarcely exceeding in length its
agreeable predecessor.
Of those parts of the subject which both of
them treat in common, a superior interest must
always surround the consideration of the
motives which led to the abdication of Charles;
for so vast a resolution on the part of so great
a man is excluded from the category of per-
sonal and exceptional traits, and may show
the depths of our common nature when
swayed by sublime emotions. It is familiarly
known that this resolution was by no means
an unexpected or unprepared incident, but
had been formed years before it was actually
put in practice. Yet, in estimating the cir-
cumstances under which it may have been
conceived, the loosest conjectures have been
hazarded in the absence of positive know-
ledge. It has been referred vaguely to disap
pointment and satiety of empire, to the ambi-
tion of Philip, and to the increasing pressure
of cares and infirmities; to all the inducements,
in short, which imply that it was an after-
thought reluctantly approved by an unwel-
come experience of affairs. To test this im-
pression it was of the utmost importance that
we should know precisely at what period of
his career the Emperor first entertained the
intention of abdicating ; and it is here that M.
Mignet has the advantage of his predecessor
in informing us, on the unquestionable testi-