X.. As this event had been long expected, there was an ex- B O O K traordinary concourse of Cardinals at Rome; and the various competitors having had time to form their parties, and death of Paul III. was occasioned by the violent passions which the behaviour of his grandson excited; that being informed, while he was refreshing himself in one of his gardens near Rome, of Octavio's attempt on Parma, as well as of his negociations with the Emperor by means of Gonzaga, he fainted away, continued some hours in a swoon, then became feverish, and died within three days. This is the account given of it by Thuanus, lib. vi. 211. Adriani Istor. di suoi Tempi, lib. vii. 480. and by Father Paul, 280. Even Cardinal Pallavicini, better informed than any writer with regard to the events which happened in the papal court, and, when not warped by prejudice or system, more accurate in relating them, agrees with their narrative in its chief circumstances. Pallav. b. ii. 74. Paruta, who wrote his history by command of the senate of Venice, relates it in the same manner. Historici Venez. vol. iv. 212. But there was no occasion to search for any extraordinary cause to account for the death of an old man of eighty-two. There remains an authentic account of this event, in which we find none of those marvellous circumstances of which the historians are so fond. The Cardinal of Ferrara, who was intrusted with the affairs of France at the court of Rome, and M. D'Urfé, Henry's ambassador in ordinary there, wrote an account to that Monarch of the affair of Farma, and of the Pope's death. By these it appears, that Octavio's attempt to surprise Parma, was made on the twentieth of October; that next day in the evening, and not while he was airing himself in the gardens of Monte-Cavallo, the Pope received intelligence of what he had done; that he was seized with such a transport of passion, and cried so bitterly, that his voice was heard in several apartments of the palace; that next day, however, he was so well as to give an audience to the Cardinal of Ferrara, and to go through business of different kinds; that Octavio wrote a letter to the Pope, not to Cardinal Farnese, his brother, intimating his resolution of throwing himself into the arms of the Emperor that the Pope received this on the twenty-first without any new symptoms of emotion, and returned an answer to it; that on the twenty-second of October, the day on which the Cardinal of Ferrara's letter is dated, the Pope was in his usual state of health. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 247. By a letter of M. D'Urfé, Nov. 5, it appears that the Pope was in such good health, that on the third of that month he had celebrated the anniversary of his coronation with the usual solemnities. Ibidem, 251. By another letter from the same person, we learn, that on the sixth of November a catarrh or defluxion fell down on the Pope's lungs, with such dangerous symptoms, that his life was immediately despaired of. Ibid. 252. And by a third letter we are informed, that he died November the tenth. In none of these letters is his death imputed to any extraordinary cause, It appears, that more than twenty days elapsed between Octavio's attempt on Parma, and the death of his grandfather, and that the disease was the natural effect of old age, not one of those occasioned by violence of passion. 1550. X. 1550. Feb. 7th. The election of Ju lius III. BOOK to concert their measures, their ambition and intrigues protracted the conclave to a great length. The Imperial and French factions strove, with emulation, to promote one of their own number, and had, by turns, the prospect of success. But as Paul during a long pontificate had raised maż ny to the purple, and those chiefly persons of eminent abilities, as well as zealously devoted to his family, Cardinal Farnese had the command of a powerful and united squadron, by whose address and firmness he exalted to the papal throne the Cardinal di Monte, whom Paul had employed as his principal legate in the council of Trent, and trusted with his most secret intentions. He assumed the name of Julius. III. and, in order to express his gratitude towards his be nefactor, the first act of his administration was to put Octavio Farnese in possession of Parma. When the injury which he did to the Holy see, by alienating a territory of such value was mentioned by some of the Cardinals, he briskly replied, "That he would rather be a poor Pope with the reputation of a gentleman, than a rich one, with the infamy of having forgotten the obligations conferred upon him, and the promises which he had made b." But all the lustre of this candour or generosity he quickly effaced by an action most shockingly indecent. According to an ancient and established practice, every Pope upon his election considers it as his privilege to bestow, on whom he pleasès, the Cardinal's hat, which falls to be disposed of by his being invested with the triple crown. Julius, to the astonishment of the sacred college, conferred this mark of distinction, together with ample ecclesiastical revenues, and the right of bearing his name and arms, upon one Innocent, a youth of sixteen, born of obscure parents, and known by the name of the Ape, from his having been trusted with the care of an animal of that species, in the Cardinal di Monte's family. Such a prostitution of the highest dignity in the church would have given offence, even in those dark periods, when the credulous superstition of the people emboldened ecclesiastics to venture on the most flagrant violations of decorum. But in an enlightened age, when, by the progress of knowledge His character and conduct. b Mem. de Ribier. X. 1550. and philosophy, the obligations of duty and decency were BOOK better understood, when a blind veneration for the Pontifical character was every where abated, and one half of Christendom in open rebellion against the Papal See, this action was viewed with horror. Rome was immediately filled with libels and pasquinades, which imputed the Pope's extravagant regard for such an unworthy object to the most criminal passions. The Protestants exclaimed against the absurdity of supposing that the infallible spirit of divine truth could dwell in a breast so impure, and called more loudly than ever, and with greater appearance of justice, for the immediate and thorough reformation of a church, the Head of which was a disgrace to the Christian name. The rest of the Pope's conduct was of a piece with this first specimen of his dispositions. Having now reached the summit of ecclesiastical ambition, he seemed eager to indemnify himself by an unrestrained indulgence of his desires, for the self-denial or dissimulation which he had thought it prudent to practise while in a subordinate station. He became careless, to so great a degree, of all serious business, that he could seldom be brought to attend to it, but in cases of extreme necessity; and giving up himself to amusements and dissipation of every kind, he imitated the luxurious elegance of Leo rather than the severe virtue of Adrian, the latter of which it was necessary to display, in contending with a sect which derived great credit from the rigid and austere manners of its teachers d. THE Pope, however ready to fulfil his engagements to His views the family of Farnese, discovered no inclination to observe and proceedings the oath, which each Cardinal had taken when he entered with resthe conclave, that if the choice should fall on him, he would pect to the general immediately call the council to re-assume its deliberations. Council. Julius knew, by experience, how difficult it was to confine such a body of men within the narrow limits which it was the interest of the see of Rome to prescribe; and how easily the zeal of some members, the rashness of others, or the suggestions of the Princes on whom they depended, might c Sleid. 492. F. Paul, 281. Pallavic. ii. 76. Thuan. lib. vi. 215. ed F. Paul, 281. X. 1550. BOOK precipitate a popular and ungovernable assembly into forbid den inquiries, as well as dangerous decisions. He wished, for these reasons, to have eluded the obligation of his oath, and gave an ambiguous answer to the first proposals which were made to him by the Emperor, with regard to that mat ter. But Charles, either from his natural obstinacy in adhering to the measures which he had once adopted, or from the mere pride of accomplishing what was held to be almost impossible, persisted in his resolution of forcing the Protestants to return into the bosom of the church. Having persuaded himself, that the authoritative decisions of the coun cil might be employed with efficacy in combating their prejudices, he, in consequence of that persuasion, continued to solicit earnestly that a new bull of convocation might be issued; and the Pope could not, with decency, reject that request. When Julius found that he could not prevent the calling of a council, he endeavoured to take to himself all the merit of having procured the meeting of an assembly, which was the object of such general desire and expectation. A congregation of Cardinals, to whom he referred the consideration of what was necessary for restoring peace to the church, recommended, by his direction, the speedy convo cation of a council, as the most effectual expedient for that purpose; and as the new heresies raged with the greatest violence in Germany, they proposed Trent as the place of its meeting, that, by a near inspection of the evil, the re medy might be applied with greater discernment and certainty of success. The Pope warmly approved of this advice, which he himself had dictated, and sent nuncios to the Imperial and French courts, in order to make known his in tentions*, A diet at to enforce ་ ABOUT this time, the Emperor had summoned a new Augsburg diet to meet at Augsburg, in order to enforce the observathe Inte- tion of the Interim, and to procure a more authentic act of the supreme court in the Empire, acknowledging the jurisdiction of the council, as well as an explicit promise of conJune 25. forming to its decrees. He appeared there in person, to rim. ~ e F. Paul, 281. Pallav. ii. 77. Charles, X. 1550. gether with his son the Prince of Spain. Few Electors B O O K were present, but all sent deputies in their name. notwithstanding the despotic authority with which he had given law in the Empire during two years, knew that the spirit of independence among the Germans, was not entirely subdued, and for that reason took care to over-awe the diet by a considerable body of Spanish troops which escorted him thither. The first point submitted to the consideration of the diet, was the necessity of holding a council. All the Popish members agreed, without difficulty, that the meeting of that assembly should be renewed at Trent, and promised an implicit acquiescence in its decrees. The Protestants, intimidated and disunited, must have followed their example, and the resolution of the diet would have proved unanimous, if Maurice of Saxony had not begun at this time to disclose new intentions, and to act a part very dif. ferent from that which he had so long assumed. begins to emperor. By an artful dissimulation of his own sentiments; by ad- Maurice dress in paying court to the emperor; and by the seeming form dezeal with which he forwarded all his ambitious schemes, signs against the Maurice had raised himself to the Electoral dignity; and having added the dominions of the elder branch of the Saxon family to his own, he was become the most powerful Prince in Germany. But his long and intimate union with the Emperor had afforded him many opportunities of observing narrowly the dangerous tendency of that Monarch's schemes. He saw the yoke that was preparing for his country; and from the rapid as well as formidable progress of the Imperial power, was convinced that but a few steps more remained to be taken, in order to render Charles as absolute a Monarch in Germany as he had become in Spain. The more eminent the condition was to which he himself had been exalted, the more solicitous did Maurice naturally become to maintain all its rights and privileges, and the more did he dread the thoughts of descending from the rank of a Prince almost independent, to that of a vassal subject to the commands of a master, At the same time, he perceived that Charles was bent on exacting a rigid conformity to the doctrines and rites of the Romish church, in |