Emperor of Germany, king of Spain, and lord of the Netherlands, born at Ghent, in the year 1500.

He is said to have fought sixty battles, in most of which he was victorious, to have obtained six triumphs, conquered four kingdoms, and to have added eight principalities to his dominions—an almost unparalleled instance of worldly prosperity and the greatness of human glory.

But all these fruits of his ambition, and all the honors which attended him, could not yield true and solid satisfaction. Reflecting on the evils and miseries which he had occasioned, [pg 406] and convinced of the emptiness of earthly magnificence, he became disgusted with the splendor that surrounded him, and thought it his duty to withdraw from it, and spend the rest of his days in religious retirement. Accordingly, he voluntarily resigned all his dominions to his brother and son; and, after taking an affectionate and last farewell of the latter, and a numerous retinue of princes and nobility who respectfully attended him, he repaired to his chosen retreat, which was situated in Spain, in a vale of no great extent, watered by a small brook, and surrounded with rising grounds covered with lofty trees.

A deep sense of his frail condition and great imperfections appears to have impressed his mind in this extraordinary resolution, and through the remainder of his life. As soon as he landed in Spain, he fell prostrate on the ground, and considering himself now as dead to the world, he kissed the earth, and said, “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked I now return to thee, thou common mother of mankind!”

In this humble retreat, he spent his time in religious exercises and innocent employments, and buried here, in solitude and silence, his grandeur and his ambition, together with all those vast projects, which, for near half a century, had alarmed and agitated Europe, and filled every kingdom in it, by turns, with the terror of his arms, and the dread of being subjected to his power. Far from taking any part in the political transactions of the world, he restrained his curiosity even from any inquiry concerning them, and seemed to view the busy scene he had abandoned with an elevation and indifference of mind which arose from his thorough experience of its vanity, as well as from the pleasing reflection of having disengaged himself from its cares and temptations.

Here he enjoyed more complete contentment than all his grandeur had ever yielded him; as a full proof of which he has left this short but comprehensive testimony:—“I have tasted more satisfaction in my solitude, in one day, than in all the triumphs of my former reign. The sincere study, [pg 407] profession, and practice, of the Christian religion have in them such joys and sweetness as are seldom found in courts and grandeur.”