all orders of men and which his heroic qualities only could have counteracted, or prevented from degenerating into the most enervating sensuality17. It was productive, however, of consequences abundantly fatal. Four thousand French gentleman are said to have been killed in single combats, chiefly arising from amorous quarrels, during the first eigh teen years of Henry's reign18. "Having been long habi"tuated to the sight of blood, and prodigal of his own," says Sully," he could never be prevailed upon strictly to "enforce the laws against duelling19." LETTER LXXIV. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE CONTINENT, OF EUROPE FROM THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRY IV. TO THE TREATY OF PRAGUE IN 1635 THE greater part of the European continent, during the period that followed the death of Henry IV. was a scene of anarchy, rebellion, and bloodshed. Germany continued for many years involved in those disputes, which he was preparing to settle. Religious controversies, which generally mingle themselves with civil affairs, distracted the United Provinces, and robbed them of the sweets of that liberty, which they had so gallantly earned by their valour and perseverance. And France, under the minority of Lewis XIII. and the weak regency of his mother, Mary of Medicis returned to that state of disorder and wretchedness, out of which it had been raised by the mild and equitable, but vigorous government of Henry the Great. The transactions of this turbulent period, to the peace of Westphalia, when the harmony of the empire was established, and tranquillity in some measure, restored to Europe, I 17. Mew. de Sulli. liv. xxv. Gallanteries des Rois de France. 18. Mem. pour servir a l'Hist. de France. 19. Mem, liv, xxii, purpose propose to comprehend in two extensive sketches; and, in order to prevent confusion, as well as to preserve the general effect, I shall be sparing in particulars. The consideration of the affairs of England, from the accession of the house of Stuart to the subversion of the monarchy, with the grand struggle between the king and parliament, and the narration of the complicated transactions on the continent during the reign of Lewis XIV. whose ambition gave birth to a series of wars, intrigues, and negociations, unequalled in the history of mankind, I shall defer till some future occasions, when you may be supposed to have digested the materials already before you; observing, in the mean time, that soon after the peace of Westphalia, which may be considered as the foundation of all subsequent treaties, society almost eve ry where assumed its present form. I must begin with a view of the troubles of Germany. The two great confederacies, distinguished by the names of the Catholic League and Evangelical Union, which had threatened the empire with a furious civil war, appeared to be dissolved with the death of Henry IV. But the elector of Brandenburg, and the duke of Neuberg, still maintained their claim to the succession of Cleves and Juliers; and being assisted by Maurice, prince of Orange, and some French troops, under the mareschal de la Chatre, they expelled Leopold, the sequestrator, and took possession by force of arms. They afterwards, however, disagreed between themselves, but were again reconciled from a sense of mutual interest. In this petty quarrel Spain and the United Provinces interested themselves, and the two greatest generals in Europe were once more opposed to each other; Spinola on the part of the duke of Neuberg, who had renounced Lutheranism in order to procure the protection of the Catholic king, and Maurice on the side of the elector of Brandenburg, who introduced Calvinism into his dominions, more strongly to attach the Dutch to his cause'. 1. Mercur. Gallo Belg tom x. lib. iii. Mean A. D. 1612. Meantime Rodolph II. died, and was succeeded by his brother Matthias. The Protestants, to whom the archduke had been very indulgent, in order to accomplish his ambitious views, no sooner saw him seated on the imperial throne, than they plied him with memorials, requiring an extension of their privileges, while the Catholics petitioned for new restrictions; and to complete his confusion, the Turks entered Transylvania. But the extent of the Ottoman dominions, which had so long given alarm to Christendom, on this, as well as on former occasions, proved its safety. The young and ambitious Achmet, who hoped to signalize the beginning of his reign by the conquest of Hungary, was obliged to recall his forces from that quarter, to protect the eastern frontier of his empire; and Matthias obtained, without striking a blow, a peace as adA. D. 1615. vantageous as he could have expected, after the most successful war. He stipulated for the restitution of Agria, Pest, Buda, and every other place held by thẻ Turks in Hungary?. Matthias was now resolved to pull off the mask, which he had so long worn on purpose to deceive the Protestants, and to convince them that he was their master. Meanwhile finding himself advancing in years, and declining in health, he procured, in order to strengthen his authority, his cousin Ferdinand de Gratz, duke of Stiria, whom he intended as his successor in the empire, to be elected king of Bohemia, A. D. 1617. and acknowledged in Hungary; neither himself nor his brothers having any children: and he engaged the Spanish branch of the house of Austria, to renonce all pretensions which it could possibly have to those crowns3. This family compact alarmed the Evangelical Union, and occasioned a revolt of the Hungaria and Bohemians. The malecontents in Hungary were soon appeased; but the Bohemian protestants, whose pri A. D. 1618. 2 Heiss, liv. iii chap. viii. 3. Annal, de l'Emp. tom. ii. vileges vileges had been invaded, obstinately continued in arms, and were joined by those of Silesia, Moravia, and upper Austria. The confederates were headed by count de la Tour, a man of abilities, and supported by an army of German protestants, under the famous count Mansfeldt, natural son of the Flemish general of that name, who was for a time governor of the Spanish Netherlands.-Thus was kindled a furious cívil war, which desolated Germany during thirty years, interested all the powers of Europe, and was not finally extinguished until the peace of Westphalia. Amid these disorders died the emperor Matthias, without being able to foresee the event of the struggle, A. D. 1619. or who should be his successor. The imperial dignity, however, went according to his destination. Ferdimand de Gratz was raised to the vacant throne, notwithstanding the opposition of the elector Palatine and the States of Bohemia; and with a less tyrannical disposition, he would have been worthy that high station. The election of Ferdinand II. instead of intimidating the Bohemians, roused them to more vigorous measures. They formally deposed him, and chose Frederic V. elector Palatine, for their king. Frederic, seduced by his flatterers, unwisely accepted of the crown, notwithstanding the remonstrances of James I. of England, his father-in-law, who used all his influence in persuading him to reject it, and protested that he would give him no assistance in such a rash undertaking. This measure confirmed the quarrel between Ferdinand and the Bohemians. Frederic was seconded by all the protestant princes, except the elector of Saxony, who still adhered to the emperor, in hopes of obtaining the investiture of Cleves and Juliers. Bethlem Gabor, vaivode of Transyl vania, also declared in favour of the Palatine; entered Hungary, made himself master of many places, and was pro claimed king by the Protestants of that country4. 4 Barre, Hist. d'Alemagne, tom. ix. Frederic Frederic was farther supported by two thousand four hundred English volunteers, whom James permitted to embark in a cause of which he disapproved; and by a body of eight thousand men, under prince Henry of Nassau, from the United Provinces. But Ferdinand, assisted by the Catholic princes of the empire, by the king of Spain, and the archduke Albert, was more than a match for his enemies. Spinola led twenty-five thousand veterans from the Low Countries, and plundered the Palatinate, in defiance of the English and Dutch; while Frederic himself, unable to protect his new kingdom of Bohemia, was totally A. D. 1620. routed near Prague, by the imperial general Buquoy, and his own Catholic kinsman, the duke of Bava rias. The Palatine and his adherents were now put to the ban of the empire; and the Bohemian rebels being A. D. 1621. reduced, an army was dispatched under Buquoy into Hungary against Bethlem Gabor, who consented to resign his title to that crown, on obtaining conditions other. wise advantageous. In the mean time the conquest of the Palatinate was finished by the imperialists under count Tilly. Frederic was degraded from his electoral dignity, which was conferred on the duke of Bavaria; and his dominions were bestowed by Ferdinand," in the fullness of his power," upon those who had helped to subdue them". While the house of Austria was thus extending its authority in Germany, a project no less ambitious than bloody, was concerted for rendering the Spanish branch of that family absolute in Italy. The duke d'Ossuna, viceroy of Naples, the marquis de Villa Franca, governor of Milan, and the marquis of Bedomar, the Spanish ambassador at Venice, conspired to subject the Venetians, and with them the rest of the Italian states, under the dominion of their master. For this purpose they had formed a horrid plot, which wolud 5. Weiss, liv. iii. chap. ix. 6. Barre, tom, ix. infallibly |