man, this lovely
creature might some day be a brilliant star in the firmament of his age.

Here he paused. The question, "For how long?" forced itself upon him. He,
too, during the short span of youth had been a hero and a victorious
knight. With secure confidence he had undertaken to establish for himself
and his family a sovereignty of the world which should include the state
and the Church. "More, farther," had been his motto, and to what
stupendous successes it had led him! Three years before he had routed at
Muhlberg his most powerful rivals. As prisoners they still felt his
avenging hand.

And now? At this hour?

The hope of the sovereignty of the world lay shattered at his feet. The
wish to obtain the German imperial crown for his heir and successor,
Philip, had proved unattainable. It was destined for his brother,
Ferdinand of Austria, and afterward for the latter's son, Maximilian. To
lead the defeated German Protestants back to the bosom of the Holy Church
appeared more and more untenable. Here in the Netherlands the heretics,
in consequence of the Draconian severity of the regulations which he
himself had issued, had been hung and burned by hundreds, and hitherto he
had gained nothing but the hatred of the nation which he preferred to all
others. His bodily health was destroyed, his mind had lost its buoyancy,
and he was now fifty years old. What lay before him was a brief
pilgrimage--perchance numbering only a few years--here on earth, and the
limitless eternity which would never end. How small and trivial was the
former in comparison with the latter, which had no termination! And would
he desire to rear for the space of time that separates the grave from the
cradle the child for whom he desired the best blessings, instead of
securing for him salvation for the never-ceasing period of eternal life?

No! This beauty, this strength, should be consecrated to no vain secular
struggle, but to Heaven. The boy when he matured to a correct judgment
would thank him for this decision, which was really no easy one for his
worldly vanity.

Then he reverted to the wish with which he had approached the child's
couch. The son, from gratitude, should take upon himself for his father
and, if he desired, also for his refractory mother, what both had
neglected--the care for their eternal welfare--in prayer and penance.

By consecrating him to Heaven and rearing him for a peaceful existence in
God, far from the vain pleasu