mplished mechanism of diplomacy, with its menaces, its bribes, and
its artifice were employed to thwart the movements of Matthias and his
friends.

There was still another very great difficulty. Matthias was very
ambitious, and wished to be a sovereign, with sovereign power. He was
very reluctant to surrender the least portion of those prerogatives
which his regal ancestors had grasped. But the nobles deemed this a
favorable opportunity to regain their lost power. They were disposed to
make a hard bargain with Matthias. They demanded--1st, that the throne
should no longer be hereditary, but elective; 2d, that the nobles should
be permitted to meet in a diet, or congress, to deliberate upon public
affairs whenever and wherever they pleased; 3d, that all financial and
military affairs should be left in their hands; 4th, that although the
king might appoint all the great officers of state, they might remove
any of them at pleasure; 5th, that it should be the privilege of the
nobles to form all foreign alliances; 6th, that they were to be
empowered to form an armed force by their own authority.

Matthias hesitated in giving his assent to such demands, which seemed to
reduce him to a cipher, conferring upon him only the shadow of a crown.
Rhodolph, however, who was eager to make any concessions, had his agents
busy through the diet, with assurances that the emperor would grant all
these concessions. But Rhodolph had fallen too low to rise again. The
diet spurned all his offers, and chose Matthias, though he postponed his
decision upon these articles until he could convene a future and more
general diet. Rhodolph had eagerly caught at the hope of regaining his
crown. As his messengers returned to him in the palace with the tidings
of their defeat, he was overwhelmed with indignation, shame and despair.
In a paroxysm of agony he threw up his window, and looking out upon the
city, exclaimed,

"O Prague, unthankful Prague, who hast been so highly elevated by me;
now thou spurnest at thy benefactor. May the curse and vengeance of God
fall upon thee and all Bohemia."

The 23d of May was appointed for the coronation. The nobles drew up a
paper, which they required Rhodolph to sign, absolving his subjects from
their oath of allegiance to him. The degraded king writhed in helpless
indignation, for he was a captive. With the foolish petulance of a
spoiled child, as he affixed his signature in almost an illegible
scrawl, he dashed