He succeeded Tasais--a Netherlander by birth, and one of the ablest diplomatists in the Spanish service--and his house soon became the focus of intrigue against the government to which he was accredited--the very head-quarters of the League.

His salary was large, his way of living magnificent, his insolence intolerable.
"Tassis is gone to the Netherlands," wrote envoy Busbecq to the Emperor, "and thence is to proceed to Spain.

Don Bernardino has arrived in his place.

If it be the duty of a good ambassador to expend largely, it would be difficult to find a better one than he; for they say 'tis his intention to spend sixteen thousand dollars yearly in his embassy.

I would that all things were in correspondence; and that he were not in other respects so inferior to Tassis." It is, however, very certain that Mendoza was not only a brave soldier, but a man of very considerable capacity in civil affairs, although his inordinate arrogance interfered most seriously with his skill as a negotiator.