himself into the fire, but was rescued by his guards, with his clothes
all in flames. He passed several days without taking any food, and then
ate so many patties of minced meat that he nearly died of indigestion.
He was also said to have attempted to choke himself with a diamond, and
to have been prevented by his guard; to have filled his bed with ice; to
have sat in cold draughts; to have gone eleven days without food, the
last method being, as one would think, sufficiently thorough. Philip,
therefore, seeing his son thus desperate, consulted once more with the
Holy Office, and came to the decision that it was better to condemn him
legitimately to death than to permit him to die by his own hand. In
order, however, to save appearances, the order was secretly carried into
execution. Don Carlos was made to swallow poison in a bowl of broth, of
which he died in a few hours. This was at the commencement of his
twenty-third year. The death was concealed for several months, and was
not made public till after Alva's victory at Jemmingen.

Such was the account drawn up by de Thou from the oral communications of
de Foix, and from other sources not indicated. Certainly, such a
narrative is far from being entitled to implicit credence. The historian
was a contemporary, but he was not in Spain, and the engineer's testimony
is, of course, not entitled to much consideration on the subject of the
process and the execution (if there were an execution); although
conclusive as to matters which had been within his personal knowledge.
For the rest, all that it can be said to establish is the existence of
the general rumor, that Carlos came to his death by foul means and in
consequence of advice given by the inquisition.

On the other hand, in all the letters written at the period by persons
in Madrid most likely, from their position, to know the truth, not a
syllable has been found in confirmation of the violent death said to have