trances of his friends, declared that, be the consequences
what they might, he never would violate his pledge; and finding that he
could not fulfill the articles of the agreement, he returned to Bavaria
and surrendered himself a prisoner to the emperor. It is seldom that
history has the privilege of recording so noble an act. Louis of Bavaria
fortunately had a soul capable of appreciating the magnanimity of his
captive. He received him with courtesy and with almost fraternal
kindness. In the words of a contemporary historian, "They ate at the
same table and slept in the same bed;" and, most extraordinary of all,
when Louis was subsequently called to a distant part of his dominions to
quell an insurrection, he intrusted the government of Bavaria, during
his absence, to Frederic.

Frederic's impetuous and ungovernable brother Leopold, was unwearied in
his endeavors to combine armies against the emperor, and war raged
without cessation. At length Louis, harassed by these endless
insurrections and coalitions against him, and admiring the magnanimity
of Frederic, entered into a new alliance, offering terms exceedingly
honorable on his part. He agreed that he and Frederic should rule
conjointly as emperors of Germany, in perfect equality of power and
dignity, alternately taking the precedence.

With this arrangement Leopold was satisfied, but unfortunately, just at
that time, his impetuous spirit, exhausted by disappointment and
chagrin, yielded to death. He died at Strasbourg on the 28th of
February, 1326. The pope and several of the electors refused to accede
to this arrangement, and thus the hopes of the unhappy Frederic were
again blighted, for Louis, who had consented to this accommodation for
the sake of peace, was not willing to enforce it through the tumult of
war. Frederic was, however, liberated from captivity, and he returned to
Austria a dejected, broken-hearted man. He pined away for a few months
in languor, being rarely known to smile, and died at the castle of
Gullenstein on the 13th of January, 1330. His widow, Isabella, the
daughter of the King of Arragon, became blind from excessive grief, and
soon followed her husband to the tomb.

As Frederic left no son, the Austrian dominions fell to his two
brothers, Albert III. and Otho. Albert, by marriage, added the valuable
county of Ferret in Alsace to the dominions of the house of Austria. The
two brothers reigned with such wonderful harmony, that no indications