tute of the means which he might
else have had of exerting an influence over the son. The prince's
dissipated way of life, his perpetual lapses from decorum, or, to speak
more properly, his reckless defiance of decency, outraged his father, so
punctilious in his own observance of the outward decencies of life. He
may well have dwelt on such excesses of Carlos with pain; but it may be
doubted if the prince's more honorable desire to mingle in public
affairs was to the taste of Philip, who was too tenacious of power
willingly to delegate it, beyond what was absolutely necessary, to his
own ministers. The conduct of his son, unhappily, furnished him with a
plausible ground for distrusting his capacity for business.

[Sidenote: HIS CONNECTION WITH THE FLEMINGS.]

Thus distrusted, if not held in positive aversion, by his father;
excluded from any share in the business of the state, as well as from a
military life, which would seem to have been well suited to his
disposition; surrounded by Philip's ministers, whom Carlos, with too
much reason, regarded as spies on his actions,--the unhappy young man
gave himself up to a reckless course of life, equally ruinous to his
constitution and to his character; until the people, who had hailed with
delight the prospect of a native-born prince, now felt a reasonable
apprehension as to his capacity for government.[1434]

But while thus an object of distrust at home, abroad more than one
sovereign coveted an alliance with the heir of the Spanish monarchy.
Catharine de Medicis would gladly have secured his hand for a younger
sister of Isabella, in which project she was entirely favored by the
queen. This was in 1565; but Philip, in his usual procrastinating
spirit, only replied, "They must reflect upon it."[1435] He looked with
a more favorable eye on the proposals warmly pressed by the emperor and
empress of Germany, who, as we have seen, still cherished a kindly
remembrance of Carlos, and wished his union with their daughter Anne.
That princess, who was a year younger than her cousin, claimed Spain as
her native land, having been born there during the regency of
Maximilian. But although the parties were of suitable age, and Philip
acquiesced in the proposals for their marriage, his want of confidence
in his son, if we may credit the historians, still moved him to defer
the celebration of it.[1436] Anne did indeed live to mount the throne of
Castile, but as the wife, not of Carlos, but