Since death robbed our sovereign lord of his wife, and the gout has prevented his enjoyment of the chief pleasures of life--hunting, the tournament, and the other pastimes which people of our rank usually pursue--in what can he find diversion?
The masterpieces of painters and other artists, the inventions of mechanicians and clock-makers, and the works of scholars have no place here, but probably----" "Then it is the noble art of music which your Majesty has in view," Quijada eagerly interrupted.

"Admirable! For, since the days of King Saul and the harper David----" "There is certainly no better remedy for melancholy," said the Queen, completing the exclamation of the loyal man.

"But it could affect no one more favourably than the Emperor.

You yourself know how keen a connoisseur he is, and how often this has been confirmed by our greatest masters.

Need I remind you of the high mass in Cologne, at which the magnificent singing seemed fairly to reanimate him after the defection of the heretical archbishop--which threatens to have a disastrous influence upon my Netherlanders also--had robbed him of the last remnant of his enjoyment of life, already clouded?
The indignation aroused by the German princes, and the difficult decision to which their conduct is forcing him, act upon his soul like poison.