Masham and the Duchess: these may bring Treaties of Utrecht, and
what you are pleased to call laws of Earth;--but a Hapsburg Kaiser
knows higher laws, if you would do a thousand Utrechts; and by
these, Spain is his!"

Poor Kaiser Karl: he had a high thought in him really though a
most misguided one. Titular King of Men; but much bewildered into
mere indolent fatuity, inane solemnity, high sniffing pride
grounded on nothing at all; a Kaiser much sunk in the sediments of
his muddy Epoch. Sure enough, he was a proud lofty solemn Kaiser,
infinitely the gentleman in air and humor; Spanish gravities,
ceremonials, reticences;--and could, in a better scene, have
distinguished himself by better than mere statuesque immovability
of posture, dignified endurance of ennui, and Hapsburg tenacity in
holding the grip. It was not till 1735, after tusslings and
wrenchings beyond calculation, that he would consent to quit
the Shadow of the Crown of Spain; and let Europe BE at peace
on that score.

The essence of what is called the European History of this Period,
such History as a Period sunk dead in spirit, and alive only in
stomach, can have, turns all on Kaiser Karl, and these his
clutchings at shadows. Which makes a very sad, surprising History
indeed; more worthy to be called Phenomena of Putrid Fermentation,
than Struggles of Human Heroism to vindicate itself in this
Planet, which latter alone are worthy of recording as "History"
by mankind.

On the throne of Spain, beside Philip V. the melancholic new
Bourbon, Louis XIV.'s Grandson, sat Elizabeth Farnese, a termagant