t no
tidings of Paul's death, or Caraffa's![311] He was sorely displeased
with the truce which Alva granted to the pontiff, intimating a regret
that he had not the reins still in his own hand. He was yet more
discontented with the peace, and the terms of it, both public and
private; and when Alva talked of leaving Naples, his anger, as his
secretary quaintly remarks, was "more than was good for his
health."[312]

The same interest he showed in the French war. The loss of Calais filled
him with the deepest anxiety. But in his letters on the occasion,
instead of wasting his time in idle lament, he seems intent only on
devising in what way he can best serve Philip in his distress.[313] In
the same proportion he was elated by the tidings of the victory of St.
Quentin. His thoughts turned upon Paris, and he was eager to learn what
road his son had taken after the battle.[314] According to Brantome, on
hearing the news, he abruptly asked, "Is Philip at Paris?"--He judged of
Philip's temper by his own.[315]

At another time, we find him conducting negotiations with Navarre;[316]
and then, again, carrying on a correspondence with his sister, the
regent of Portugal, for the purpose of having his grandson, Carlos,
recognized as heir to the crown, in case of the death of the young king,
his cousin. The scheme failed, for it would be as much as her life was
worth, the regent said, to engage in it. But it was a bold one, that of
bringing under the same sceptre these two nations, which, by community
of race, language, and institutions, would seem by nature to have been
designed for one. It was Charles's comprehensive idea; and it proves
that, even in the cloister, the spirit of ambition had not become
extinct in his bosom. How much would it have rejoiced that ambitious
spirit, could he have foreseen that the consummation so much desired by
him would be attained under Philip![317]

[Sidenote: HIS INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS.]

But the department which especially engaged Charles's attention in his
retirement, singularly enough, was the financial. "It has been my
constant care," he writes to Philip, "in all my letters to your sister,
to urge the necessity of providing you with funds,--since I can be of
little service to you in any other way."[318] His interposition, indeed,
seems to have been constantly invoked to raise supplies for carrying on
the war. This fact may be thought to show that those writers are
mistaken who accuse Phil