Year: 1861




Charles N. of Spain.


The fifth volume of Ma ,aulay : History of Eng
land. as prepared for the press by bis sister, Lady
Trevaylan, furnishes the following interesting
portrait of the unfortunate Charles H. of Spain:


The Prince on whom so much depended was
the most miserable of human beings In old
times he would have been exposed he
came into the world; and to expose him would
have been a kindness From his birth a blight
was on his body and on his mind. With difficulty
his almost imperceptable spark of life had been
screened and famed into a dim and Pickering
fame. His childhood, except when he could be
rocked and sung into sickly sleep, was one long
pite0ns wall. Till he was ten years old his days
were passed on the laps of women, and he was
never once suffered to stand on his rckety legs.
None of those tawny little urchins. clad in rags
stolen from scare-crows, whom Marillo Lowell to
paint begging rolling in the sand, owed less to
education than this despotic ruler of thirty mil
lions of subjects The most important events in
the history of his own kingdom, the very names
of provinces and cities which were among his
most valuable possessions, we're unknou to him.
1t may we'll be doubted whethor he was aware that
Sicily an island, that Christopher Columbus
had discovered America, or that the English were
not Mahommedans. In his youth however, though
TOO imbecile for study or for business he was not
incapable of being amused. He shot, hawked and
hunted He enjoyed with the delight OF true
Spaniard two delightful spectaeles: horse with
its bowels gored out, and Jew writing in the
fire. The time came when the mightiest of in
stincts ordinarily wakens from its repose. Itwas
hoped that the young King would not prove in
vincible to female attractions, and that he would
have Prince of Asturias to succeed him. A
consort was found for him in the Royal family of
France. and ner beauty and grace gave him a Ian
guild pleasure He liked to adorn her with jew
els, to see her dance, and to tell her what sport
he had with his dogs and his falcons. But it was
soon whispered that she a wife only in name.
She died; and her place was supplied by German
Princess nearly allied to the Imperial house. But
the second marriage. like the first, proved barren;
and, long before the King had passed the prime of
life, all the politicians of Europe had began to
take il for granted, in all their calculations that
he would be the last descendant, in the male line,
of Charles V.


Meanwhile, a sullen and abiect melancholy
took possession Of his soul. The diversions
which had been the serious employment of his
youth, became distasteful to him. He ceased to
find pleasure in his nets and boar-spears in the
fandango and the bull-fght. Sometimes he shut
himself up in an inner chambers from the eyes of
his courtiers Sometimes he loitered alone, from
sunrise to sunset, in the dreary and rugged will
derness which surrounds the Escurial. The hours
which he did not waste in listless Incidence, were
divided between childish sports and childish de-
votions. He delighted in rare animals, and still
more in dwarfs. When neither strange beasts nor
little men could dispel the black thoughts which
gathered on his mind. he repeated and credos
he walked in professions sometimes ne starved
himself; sometimes he whipped himself At
length a complication of maladies completed the
ruin of all his faculties. His stomach failed nor
was this strange, for in him the malformatlon OF
the Jaw, characteristic of his family, was so seri
Gus that he could not masticate his food, and he
was in the habit Of swallowing ollas and sweet
meats in the state in which they were set before
him. While suffering from indigestion he wa:
attacked by ague- Every third day his convul
sive tremblings, his detection, his fits of wander
ing seemed to indicate the approach of dissolu
ton. His misery was increased by the knowl
edge that everybody was calculating how long h,
had to live, and wondering what would becom,
of his kingdom when he should be dead. Tn,
stately dignitaiies of his household, ne physi
clans who mnistered to his diseased bc> the di
vines whose business it was to soothe hi3< -les
diseased uind, the very wife who should nav,
been intent on those gentle offices BY which lie
male tenderness can alleviate even the misery o
hopeless decay, were all thinking Of the neS
world which was TO commence with his death an,
would have been perfectly willing TO see him il
the hands OF his eGbaner. if they could hav
been certain that his successor would be tn
prince whose interest they espoused. As yet tn
party of the Emperor seemed to predOmindte
Charles had faint sort of preference for tn
House of Austria, which was bis own house. an
a faint sort of antipathy to the House of BouI
bon, with which he had been quJrreng, he di
not know why, ever since he could remembe
His Queen, whom he did not love- but of whoi
he stood greatly in awe, was devoted to the inte
ests of her kinsman, the Emperor /; and with hi
was closely leagued the Count of Melgar, heres
itary Admiral of CASTLE and Prime Minister.


In a very short time the Kings malady took
form, That hQ was too wplk m lift his foo
70 his misshapen mouth, that at thirty
had the bald head and wrinkled face OF man


seventy, that his complexion was turning fro
yellow to green. that he frequently fell down


fits and remained long ilsensible-these were
longer the worst symptoms of bis malady.
had always been afraid of ghosts and demon
and it had long been necessary that three fria
should watch every night by his restless he'd as
guard against hobgoblins But now he W. firm
convinced that be was bewitehed. that he, W
possessed. that there was devil within him, th
there were devils all around him. lie was exc
eised according to the forms Of his church; b
this ceremony, instead of quietng him, scar
him out of almost all the little reason that natu
had given him. In his misery and despair


was induced 10 resort to irregular modes Of reli
His confessor brought TO court impcsters W
pretended that they could interrogate the pow'
of darkness. The devil was called up. sworn a
examined. This strange deponent made oath,
IN the presence OF OOu, THAT MS OdtHOnC udJc,
was under spell. which had been laid on h
many years before, for the purpose of prevent
continuance CT the Royal line. A drug
been compounded out of the brain and kidne
of human corpse, and had been administered
cup of chocolate. This potion had dried up


the sources of life, and the best remedy to VIII


the patient could resort would be 70 swallow
bowl of consecrated oil every morning bef
breakfast Unlappily the authors of this at
fell into contradictions which they could exc'
only by throwing the blame on Satan, who. Il
said, was an unwilling witness and liar from


beginning In the midst of their conjuring,


Inquisition came down upon them. 1t must


admitted that, if the Holy Office had reserved


its terrors for such cases, it would not now h;


been remembered as the most hateful jud cat


that was ever known among civilized men.


subaltern imposters were thrown into dungeC


But the chief criminal continued to be master


the King and of the kingdom. Meanwhile in


distempered mind of Charles, one mania succe


ed another. A longing to pry into these N


tesies of the grave from the human beings az