had engaged his attention.[601] He had particularly a turn for the
physical sciences. But he was fond of letters, and in all his tastes
showed the fruits of a liberal culture. He surrounded himself with
scholars and artists, and took a lively interest in their pursuits.
Justus Lipsius, afterwards so celebrated, was his secretary. He gave
encouragement to Plantin, who rivalled in Flanders the fame of the Aldi
in Venice. His generous patronage was readily extended to genius, in
whatever form it was displayed. It is some proof how widely extended,
that, in the course of his life, he is said to have received more than a
hundred dedications. Though greedy of wealth, it was not to hoard it,
and his large revenues were liberally dispensed in the foundation of
museums, colleges, and public libraries. Besancon, the place of his
residence, did not profit least by this munificence.[602]

Such is the portrait which historians have given to us of the minister
in his retirement. His own letters show that, with these sources of
enjoyment, he did not altogether disdain others of a less spiritual
character. A letter to one of the regent's secretaries, written soon
after the cardinal's arrival at Besancon, concludes in the following
manner: "I know that God will recompense men according to their deserts.
I have confidence that he will aid me; and that I shall yet be able to
draw profit from what my enemies designed for my ruin. This is my
philosophy, with which I endeavor to live as joyously as I can, laughing
at the world, its calumnies and its passions."[603]

With all this happy mixture of the Epicurean and the Stoic, the
philosophic statesman did not so contentedly submit to his fate as to
forego the hope of seeing himself soon reinstated in authority in the
Netherlands. "In the course of two months," he writes, "you may expect
to see me there."[604] He kept up an active correspondence with the
friends whom he had left in Brussels, and furnished the results of the
information thus obtained, with his own commentaries, to the court at
Madrid. His counsel was courted, and greatly considered, by Philip; so
that from the shades of his retirement the banished minister was still
thought to exercise an important influence on the destiny of Flanders.

* * * * *

A singular history is attached to the papers of Granvelle. That
minister resembled his master, Philip the Second, in the fertility
o