comprehend that the power of a prince, however absolute, must depend upon
the prosperity of his subjects. He taxed severely the wealth, but he
protected the commerce and the manufactures of Holland and Flanders.
He encouraged art, science, and literature. The brothers, John and
Hubert Van Eyck, were attracted by his generosity to Bruges, where they
painted many pictures. John was even a member of the duke's council.
The art of oil-painting was carried to great perfection by Hubert's
scholar, John of Bruges. An incredible number of painters, of greater or
less merit, flourished at this epoch in the Netherlands, heralds of that
great school, which, at a subsequent period, was to astonish the world
with brilliant colors; profound science, startling effects, and vigorous
reproductions of Nature. Authors, too, like Olivier de la Marche and
Philippe de Comines, who, in the words of the latter, "wrote, not for the
amusement of brutes, and people of low degree, but for princes and other
persons of quality," these and other writers, with aims as lofty,
flourished at the court of Burgundy, and were rewarded by the Duke with
princely generosity. Philip remodelled and befriended the university of
Louvain. He founded at Brussels the Burgundian library, which became
celebrated throughout Europe. He levied largely, spent profusely, but
was yet so thrifty a housekeeper, as to leave four hundred thousand
crowns of gold, a vast amount in those days, besides three million marks'
worth of plate and furniture, to be wasted like water in the insane
career of his son.

The exploits of that son require but few words of illustration. Hardly a
chapter of European history or romance is more familiar to the world than
the one which records the meteoric course of Charles the Bold. The
propriety of his title was never doubtful. No prince was ever bolder,
but it is certain that no quality could be less desirable, at that
particular moment in the history of his house. It was not the quality