It was, said the veteran, that he might put a little space of religious contemplation between the active portion of his life and the grave.
A similar determination, deferred from time to time, Charles had now carried into execution.

While he still lingered in Brussels, after his abdication, a comet appeared, to warn him to the fulfilment of his purpose.

From first to last, comets and other heavenly bodies were much connected with his evolutions and arrangements.

There was no mistaking the motives with which this luminary had presented itself.

The Emperor knew very well, says a contemporary German chronicler, that it portended pestilence and war, together with the approaching death of mighty princes.