The Bishop of Arras and Don Juan de Manrique had both assured him, he said, that Charles would not, on any account, definitely abdicate.

Manrique even asserted that it was a mere farce to believe in any such intention.

The Emperor ought to remain to protect his son, by the resources of the Empire, against France, the Turks, and the heretics.

His very shadow was terrible to the Lutherans, and his form might be expected to rise again in stern reality from its temporary grave.

Time has shown the falsity of all these imaginings, but views thus maintained by those in the best condition to know the truth, prove how difficult it was for men to believe in a transaction which was then so extraordinary, and how little consonant it was in their eyes with true propriety.