The tragedy of Don Carlos does not strictly belong to our subject, which
is the rise of the Netherland commonwealth--not the decline of the
Spanish monarchy, nor the life of Philip the Second. The thread is but
slender which connects the unhappy young prince with the fortunes of the
northern republic. He was said, no doubt with truth, to desire the
government of Flanders. He was also supposed to be in secret
correspondence with the leaders of the revolt in the provinces.
He appeared, however, to possess very little of their confidence.
His name is only once mentioned by William of Orange, who said in a
letter that "the Prince of Spain had lately eaten sixteen pounds of
fruit, including four pounds of grapes at a single sitting, and had
become ill in consequence." The result was sufficiently natural, but it
nowhere appears that the royal youth, born to consume the fruits of the
earth so largely, had ever given the Netherlanders any other proof of
his capacity to govern them. There is no doubt that he was a most
uncomfortable personage at home, both to himself and to others, and that
he hated his father' very cordially. He was extremely incensed at the
nomination of Alva to the Netherlands, because he had hoped that either
the King would go thither or entrust the mission to him, in either of
which events he should be rid for a time of the paternal authority, or
at least of the paternal presence. It seems to be well ascertained that
Carlos nourished towards his father a hatred which might lead to criminal
attempts, but there is no proof that such attempts were ever made. As to
the fabulous amours of the Prince and the Queen, they had never any
existence save in the imagination of poets, who have chosen to find
a source of sentimental sorrow for the Infante in the arbitrary
substitution of his father for himself in the marriage contract with the
daughter of Henry the Second. As Carlos was but twelve or thirteen years
of age when thus deprived of a bride whom he had never seen, the